Taste of Rabbit
by ShamefulMan
Summary: Continuation from my previous story. A WildeXHopps story about Judy's recovery and the development of her relationship with Nick. After the traumatic events, they are both left a little shaken, but they find great comfort and peace with each other's company. Platonic love begins developing into something more.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey duddesss, its yo girlman Jackson the Xerox Fax Machine Johnson! If yall new here, This is kind of a continuation from my previous story "Judy's Trial" which you guys shuld DEF read FIRST if you didn't, despite it being kinda sad it's full of cute WildeHopps moments! But if you don't feel like reading it, I'm pretty sure the exposition laid down in this chap. is enough to let you guys infer what previously happened. Tickle mah marrow with your lovely reviews. And follow if you guys want more! KISSES XOXOXOXOXOXOOXO. And hugs.**

She sat there with her ears fully perked up. The dim LED on her clock showed 2:16 AM.

Her eyes were darting back and forth incessantly at every little sound.

Her breathes were quick, sharp, and inconsistent.

She was curled up in the corner of her apartment gripping her own knees tightly with her arms.

Judy was quietly whimpering and wincing at almost every noise she heard.

It had been about 1 month since Judy awoke from her torture-induced coma.

She had still insisted adamantly to Chief Bogo that she wished to resume her duties as an officer asap.

Nick and Judy had been advised by the doctors and the ZPD not to see each other during her recovery. They feared the constant interaction between the two would only continually remind them of their traumatic experiences and possibly worsen it.

Nick and Judy both strongly disapproved, but Nick knew there to be some truth in their proposal so he reluctantly adhered to it… he should give her her much needed space and time and try to collect himself as well. This was not easy for either of them.

In addition, Bogo wanted her on a 2 week paid probation period of living independently without hospital/medicinal aid or constant surveillance. The rationale for this probation was to see if Judy was truly ready to handle society again let alone resume work on the force.

…

Since her return to her apartment a few days ago, she felt scared and terrified by any and everything. Every. Single. Night.

Everything felt like an immediate threat and nothing at her "home" made her feel in the least bit safe.

Sleep was near impossible since she was usually woken by nightmares or sudden loud noises from the urban nightlife in Zootopia.

Some nights, it had been plain insomnia induced by the endless agitating thoughts. Other nights, she was simply too scared to fall asleep not wanting to face her nightmares again. At the hospital, she had sleep medication… but at home, there was nothing to calm her nor comfort her.

It was just her, and the dingy walls of her apartment. And of course those annoying neighbors and their constantly permeating voices served no aid to comfort her.

This lack of rest was taking a toll on her sanity and her physical health.

In addition to that, it's been about a week since she spoke to anyone besides Bogo once on the phone. But worst of it for her was being unable to speak to or see Nick. She hasn't spoken to him in about a week and half since the doctors advised against their interactions.

She began to sob quietly into her knees as her ears drooped down and she tried to shut her eyes hoping to drown out the thoughts that haunted her.

She felt like she was losing her mind.

 _I gotta get outta here…_

She quickly sprung up and ran across the room as if the shadows casted on her walls were chasing her down.

She franticly searched for the outlet where her phone was plugged into.

Quickly, she unlocked her iCarrot phone and started scrolling through her contacts. She did not have many contacts, most of them were ZPD coworkers and some of her folks from Bunny Burrow.

"Dumb Fox" was the entry she had him under.

For about a few seconds, she just stared at the screen indecisively debating whether or not this was a good idea. _Maybe this is inconsiderate toward Nick_...

She looked around her apartment once more, she felt so small. So lonely. The darkness that enveloped the room felt like it was slowly consuming every bit of her.

Turning on the lights didn't seem to help either.

This whole place felt like a deathtrap. She desperately needed to get out of here.

Without a second thought, she hit the call button and brought the phone close up to her ears. She opted not to video chat him because she didn't want him to see how terrible she looked right now.

Her heart was racing; she hadn't heard his voice in what felt like ages. The anticipation was killing her. Even her foot began to thump anxiously and her nose twitched.

Two rings before a familiar, but half-awake voice greeted in a mutter, "Hnnn… Ca-Carrots…?"

A pit formed in her stomach. It was so good to hear his voice again. She smiled widely as her eyes watered a bit.

"Hey Nick…" she replied back sheepishly while stroking her ear nervously. For some reason, she already started feeling better. As if almost, instantaneously, his voice washed away the terrible thoughts and nightmares eating at her heart.

"What's wrong? You ok?" His voice started to sound a little more awake and concerned.

She sniffled quietly trying hard to make sure he doesn't hear it "I… I uhh… I'm just checking up on you… to see how you're doing."

He shuffled from his bed and sat up pushing some of his blanket off himself "Oh? Yeah… I'm doing fine… Well as fine as anyone could be at 2 in the morning." he chuckled as he rubbed his eyes and head.

"That's good…" she chuckled back and smiled.

He let out an extended yawn "How are _you_ doing? Resting ok?" he asked back.

"I've… hehe… I've definitely been better." She tried to joke while still stroking her own drooping ear. "Just been having a hard time sleeping… It just so cramped feeling in here… like so ugh… I feel like I'm living in a horror movie every night…" Her voice began to crack.

His eyes widened in concern. Nick noticed the voice break and already picked up what she was going through.

Her sniffles became little more audible this time as she continued, "It's just really frustrating… I'm sorry… Nevermind. I'm not even sure why I called, you can go back to sleep Nick sorry for bothering yo-"

"Hey! Don't worry about it, Fluff. You wanna come to my place? I can come pick you up. It'll be like old times." He offered and chuckled smoothly while wearing his half lidded grin.

He had been wanting her to come to his place again for so long, but of course his image and pride did not permit him to speak with any trace of desperation.

"But the doctors said it's best if we don-" she spoke worriedly.

"Oh to hell with them!" Nick interrupted loudly.

 _Whoops_.

"Sorry I mean… Don't you miss me, Carrots? Plus it's a lot more comfortable here… you can take the bed and I'll just sleep on the couch ok? And that way, if anything goes bump in the night I'll be right there and you'll be fine."

No response just some barely audible sniffles.

"Jud, you there?" he reassured.

"Yeah…" she spoke through a quiet sob. His offer sounded like a dream come true to her. This past 2 weeks had been hell for her "I… You…" She sighed "Thank you Nick."

"Hey. What are friends for right?" he smirked. "Well hurry up and get ready, I'll be there in 15 minutes ok? Which reminds me… for a bunny, you take a reeeeally long time to get ready. Aren't you guys supposed to be quick?"

She couldn't help but laugh and protest at that remark, "No that's not true!" She sniffled loudly before she retorted with a stuffed nose nasally voice "I'm just really thorough…"

"I'm just really thorough." He mocked in a nasally high pitched voice.

She laughed harder this time "That's not what I sound like, you jerk!"

"Come on, Carrots! I told you I'll be there in 15 minutes and that was 5 minutes ago, so now you got 10!" he jested.

She put one paw on her hip and sat upright while giggling "Wow! Ok ok! I'll pack my stuff now."

"See you soon, rabbit."

She quickly hung up and started packing up some of her things.

It was like she was a brand new bunny and had forgotten all about the horribleness she was just experiencing earlier in the night. She even hummed a Gazelle song as she excitedly packed some of her clothes and toiletries.

* * *

"What is taking that bunny so dang long?" He thought aloud as he checked his watch. He told her to be down in 15 minutes about 30 minutes ago.

He let out a loud yawn and reclined his car seat as he laid back. _Maybe I'll just take a nap till she comes down._

As soon as he began shutting his eyes. **tap tap tap**

He opened his eyes again and sat up. Two perked black tipped ears were staring at him through the window. She was a bit too short to see eye-to-eye with him through a car window.

The window rolled down as the fox peered over to see a gray bunny wearing her pajamas with a small suitcase staring up at him with an excited toothy grin.

He gave her his signature smirk. "Oh hey little bunny. Ya lost? The toy store is just around the corner!"

Her smile dropped into a scowl "That's not funny Nick! Open your door!"

"Hey now Carrots! What's the rush amiright? I mean you sure took your sweet time! Maybe I'm not even here yet. Maybe it's your turn to wait on the curb over there!" He pointed at the sidewalk.

She balled her paw into a fist. "Are you serious Nick? I'm sorry ok! I was just being thorough. Can you just open the do-"

"Can't hear you, still not here yet!" He pretended to lift his phone up to his ears and talked into it, "Hello Judy? Yeah I'm still on the freeway, probably another 20 minutes… No no, I have to be thorough about my driving. Ok. Ok. Uh huh. Ok see you in 40 minutes. Buh bye."

She glared at him with her arms folded and her foot thumping impatiently.

He just continued to stare at her with his smirk. It was charming to her at first, but now it was annoying the heck outta her.

She wanted to kick him in his dumb face.

Smirk vs. glare.

This persisted for about a minute.

"You wanna get in?"

"Yes." She replied immediately with a furious tone.

"You have to say please."

"Please." She spoke succinctly and in a monotone.

"Wow. That was weak. Where's the enthusiasm and cuteness?"

She let out a "hmph" and tilted her chin up "Ya know what! Forget it! You're a jerk." She picked up her suitcase and stormed off toward her apartment.

"Hey! Carrots wait!" he pleaded while laughing. _She's so cute when she's mad_.

She ignored him and began opening the door to the apartment complex.

"Carrots! If you come back and say please right! I'll even give you a back massage later!"

She stopped at the doorway as if contemplating the offer.

He chuckled "Come on… I'm really good ya know. The females love Nick's paws" he almost purred.

She began walking into the apartment complex.

He laughed some more "I'm kidding! I'm kidding! Well… I AM good at massaging. But I don't just massage a buncha other ladies!"

She stopped again.

He waited.

She placed her paws on her hips and turned around and stared at him with an unamused look and an eyebrow lifted.

Then picked up her suitcase and walked back out and stopped about 5 feet away from his car window.

She crossed her arms "Say you're a dumb fox."

He stared at her. "Ok you're a dumb fox." He let out a smirk.

She picked up her suitcase again.

He laughed some more playfully reaching his arms out to her. "ok ok! I'm… a dumb fox. There. Happy?"

She placed her suitcase back down and grinned a little.

"I know you are" she smiled smugly as if she just totally won.

"Hey… now it's your turn though." He reminded her.

Her ears drooped a bit as she rolled her eyes. She let her arms unfold and fall to her side.

She placed her two paws under her chin innocently and leaned slightly to the left.

Her big beautiful amethyst eyes were wide open as she batted her eyelids at him.

"May I get in the car pleeeeease?" she pleaded in an obvious fake overly sweet tone.

He let out a loud laugh.

It took him about a minute to control his laughter.

She was glaring at him again.

He wiped the tear from his eye and unlocked the doors. "Ok… get in."

She hopped into the front seat and buckled her seatbelt without looking at him still a little mad about what he made her do.

He began driving back to his place. "Ya know… that was freaking adorable."

"Shut up!" she punched him in the shoulder.

He winced a bit and let out a chuckle.

"You know you love m-"

"No I hate you." She pouted and looked out the window.

His eyes grew wide but he still wore a smug smile.

It was a red light, so he pulled the car to a stop.

Then suddenly, Judy felt two arms wrap around her waist as she was staring out the window. Nick's head nestled into her shoulders.

Her face heated up as her body froze.

"Ya know…" he began to speak sincerely. "It's really great to see you again. I'm really glad you're ok now. I missed you, Carrots."

She turned around slowly to look him in the eyes. He loosened his hug slightly.

They stared into each other's eyes for about a minute. The light was green already, but neither of them noticed. It was about 3 AM anyway, so there were no cars behind them. The skies were dark and the streets were silent.

Nothing to interrupt this moment.

She looked away and slowly wrapped her arms around him as well. He tightened his embrace in response.

She buried her face into his chest and took a deep breath. _Smells like blueberries_. She smiled.

This was the first time since the incident she ever felt truly safe and at peace.

"I… I missed you too Nick. Thanks… for… for everything."

"No… Thank YOU" he replied as he lightly rubbed the back of her head.

She leaned back a little and looked up at him with big round eyes "for what?"

He smiled at her with slightly glossy eyes. "For waking up." His paw pushed her face lightly back into his chest.

She said nothing and simply let out a content sigh as she tightened her grip around the fox.


	2. Chapter 2

TOR2

 **Ayyy wow dudes. Great reception of this story, so ill make more! Leave reviews, you dank lemons! HIGHLY RECOMMEND you guys read my previous fanfic so the references will make more sense, AND these moments will be more meaningful if you guys know what they've been thru together. :3 but it's up to u! xoxoXO**

The door swung open and the rabbit frowned.

 _It's still a mess here…_

She walked in and scanned the apartment room carefully.

There were some towels on the counter and the vacuum still plugged into the wall. Judy smiled a bit.

 _Well at least he made some attempt to clean this dump._

Still, she couldn't resist scolding him, "Nick. This place is still a mess." She set her suitcase down near the doorway of his bedroom.

He placed his keys down on the kitchen counter "Sorry princess, is my apartment not up to par with your majestic kingdom?" he asked with great sarcasm.

She rolled her eyes "One of these days, slick. I'm gonna make you clean this place up. I mean look at this!"

There were some blueberries and fried crickets on the floor near the couch.

She picked a berry very carefully making as little surface area contact with her fingers as possible.

"Nick! This is so gross! There's gonna be ants! And think of all the germs just having a field day out here! Ugh. This lifestyle is self-destructive, mister!" she continued to scold.

He raised his eyebrows and stared at her unfazed by her words. "Ya know what's self-destructive? Inviting an angry, crazy rabbit to your apartment at 3 in the morning."

She glared at him.

He smirked again and let out a yawn.

"Alright Carrots, I'm gonna hit the hay. Tired as hell." He walked over to the couch and launched himself onto the cushions. He laid down relaxed with his paws gripped together on his stomach. "Night."

She couldn't help but smile at him "Night, Nick."

Judy stood there behind the couch for a while just looking around his apartment. Finally, after a good 2 minutes of aimless observations, she decided settle in.

She took her suitcase into his room and laid it down on his bed.

Suddenly she remembered the little drunk incident she had with Nick here. **(Read Chapter 3 of my previous fanfic "Judy's Trial" to get the sexy details hehe.)**

She began to blush profusely at the memory. _That was a fun night_. She sighed and turned to look out of the doorway to see the sleeping fox still lying on the couch.

Again, she couldn't help but smile. She was just so happy Nick allowed her to seek temporary sanctuary at his place.

Judy glanced at her suitcase for a while and decided she would just leave her stuff inside of it not wanting to contribute to the mess in his home, the fatigue was getting to her as well.

She lied down on the bed, burrowed her way under the blankets, and closed her eyes as she let out a content sigh.

…

For 30 minutes, she was just tossing and turning non-stop, something was keeping her up. This time it wasn't a nightmare… nor was it fear… nor loneliness…

Her eyes were still closed as she furrowed her brows in frustration and curled up a little tighter into the blanket. _Maybe it's just too cold._

She tried settling in again for another 10 minutes, it was no good. She let out a small "ugh" through her teeth as she shot up out of bed and began to raid Nick's closet to find warmer clothes to wear.

Her mouth gaped at the sight. He only had the same damn outfits. He owned multiple identical green aloha shirt and khaki long pants. On the far right, he had his police uniforms and gear along with a leather jacket.

She figured that was good enough as she reached in and grabbed the jacket and slipped it on.

She twirled around in front of the tall mirror on the wall to get a good look at herself.

She just looked ridiculous, it was huge on her extending all the way down to her feet. Her paws just barely made it to the elbow joint of the sleeves.

Judy puffed her cheeks in slight disapproval.

But it did smell exactly like Nick, and for some reason that just made it a hundred times more comfortable.

With that, she was satisfied and plopped herself down onto the bed and wrapped herself into the blanket once more.

Though she was now indeed more physically comfortable, the addition of this jacket only incited a greater feeling of restlessness. She noticed her heartbeat quickened.

 _What the heck's going on?_

She sat up still wrapped tightly in her layers of insulations. Her ears perked as she tried to figure out what was wrong.

Judy got out of bed once more and walked around the room. She kept remembering that night she stupidly told Nick that she loved him due to drunk impulsions.

She also remembered even while drunk, Nick didn't want to say to say it back to her.

Her ears drooped a little bit when remembering that bitter segment of the night.

But then quickly perked up again when she thought about how they lied together in a tight embrace all night. It was… That feeling was almost magical.

She chuckled nervously to herself _so cheesy…_ She concluded to herself that they would probably never do that again.

Her paws continued to probe through more items and furniture in the room. Eventually, she found herself searching through his dark brown wooden nightstand. Sitting atop of it was the lamp and crumpled up tissue papers. _Oh groooossss~~._

She cringed as she fathomed what was balled up in those tissue papers.

Her paw reached out to the drawer and slowly pulled it open.

Usually he kept useless junk in there like spare coins, receipts, and depleted double-A batteries.

The gaps were filled in by dust, cobwebs, and some of his own fur.

She dug through it and found old scratch-and-win sheets already scratched out. Apparently he won none of them. She giggled. _Heh loser._

She picked up a pile of his junk papers and just continued browsing through them as she made her way to the foot of the bed.

In her peripherals, she detected something of interest.

Her ears perked and she turned to face outside the doorway. She noticed near the TV outside where Nick was sleeping was a framed photo.

She placed the papers down on the bed and walked outside to get a better look.

As she got closer, her eyes widened, and saw that it was a selfie Nick had taken of them. He wore an amused/annoyed look as one of her arms was tightly hooked around his neck—their cheeks squished together.

She smiled reminiscently and let out a sweet sigh as she continued to stare at the picture.

Suddenly a realization hit her.

 _This is what's keeping me up_.

This whole time she's just been thinking about Nick. And their relationship.

She turned her head to see the sleeping fox next to her lying on the couch.

Looking again at the picture and then back to him.

She felt this way for a while already, but never consciously identified it as something that bothered her.

Judy stared off blankly, ears drooping, as she thought about their drunk night together and how he risked his life rescuing her and how he spent every day of her comatose with her until she woke up.

That night… when she confessed her love to him was not a mere drunken mishap… _it was real._

She really did like him more than on a mere platonic level. No one else had ever made her feel this safe.

Judy was always independent and self-sustainable, so she never truly needed to 'rely' on anyone. In fact, she took pride in being able to accomplish things independently like becoming the first rabbit officer ever in Zootopia all on her own.

However, Nick didn't make her feel like she needed to rely on him per se… moreso, they just had chemistry… they just knew exactly what one another was thinking and was always there to offer unwavering support. A synergy like no other.

 _So what? He's an amazing fox. I know that! What the heck is botheri-_

Her eyes widened and her ears perked. Then her eyes looked down to the ground sadly as her ears drooped. She placed the picture back down.

Her eyes watered a bit.

Apparently, she did NOT hear his confession when she first woke from her coma because she still thought that Nick did not feel the same way. **(again, this is a reference to Chapter 10 of 'Judy's Trial')**

The seemingly one-way relationship made the rabbit sad.

Her heart started to ache as she made her way back to his room and lied back down.

For 10 minutes, she just stared at the ceiling still contemplating what she was going to do about this. She began to wrap herself up into the blanket.

She really didn't want to confront him to tell him yet again because that seemed way too desperate and needy and weak… _Wait…_

Suddenly a wave of determination hit her. _I'm not ashamed of these feelings, I'm not desperate. Yeah. I'm just being true to myself... I mean that's a heck of a lot better than lying to myself! So it's ok if I reiterate the truth to him! He'd understand… I know it! And… I thin-… I'm sure he'd feel the same way…. Right?_

She rationalized and devised ways of divulging her true feelings to him again. Finally, after some time, her endless stream of thoughts tired her mind and eventually weighed her eyelids down.

Before she even knew it, she had fallen asleep basking in the thoughts of her sleepy fox.

* * *

His eyes snapped open to a loud honking outside of his apartment.

It was now 7:02 AM and Nick's body was just not condoning this whole waking-up business. His fur was a mess. _Damn cars…_

He let out an exaggerated sore moan as he tried to sit up. He rubbed his head, then his back, and sat blankly for a minute facing the wall while smacking his lips. His eyes were barely open. He tilted his neck and suddenly heard a loud crack. _Geez. Musta…slept on something weird._

He glanced over at the couch cushions and stared at it a little puzzled.

Lazily and negligently, he walked to his room bumping into everything as he went on like a drunkard. Each small collision with an object was accompanied with an angry mutter.

He had forgotten why he was on the couch, and that there was a bunny rolled up in his bed.

He made his way to the bed, then collapsed right next to the bunny cocoon unaware of her presence.

Judy's eyes opened from the sudden jolt. She glanced back and saw a half asleep fox lying next to her. She blushed and quickly turned back, curled up tighter into the blanket, and pretended to be asleep.

Nick was still unaware.

Suddenly, he decided to spoon with the blanket roll he saw next to him. He gripped it tightly letting out a content tired moan as he smiled a bit.

She heard him mutter very quietly and almost incomprehensibly "Ah… that's better…"

Her face was completed heated as her ears started to perk up and poke out of the top of the blanket roll.

Suddenly, he wrapped his legs around roll and embraced the bunny sushi roll even tighter.

He let out a content sigh.

She was beginning to have trouble breathing.

Judy tried her best to stay unmoving. She debated whether or not to wake him since she felt like she was suffocating... but she did enjoy the physical attention despite his lack of clarity or consciousness.

Nick's body shivered a little. _Brrrr. It's so cold._

He grabbed the lip of the blanket roll and began pulling on it slowly unraveling and rolling Judy out.

She felt her body spinning parallel to the bed.

Finally, Nick claimed all of the blanket and tossed it lightly in the air to let it spread evenly over the whole mattress.

Judy was still lying still and quiet on the mattress. He still hadn't noticed

Before the blanket settled on the bed, Nick quickly scurried under and lied on his side. His eyes still closed as he let out another content sigh.

Unbeknownst to Nick, the blanket had fallen over the both of them. At this point, his snout was only about an inch away from her face.

Her eyes widened and her nose twitched uncontrollably.

She hasn't been this close to his face since that drunken night.

It looked like he was asleep.

She just stared at him nervously with eyes wide open frozen.

Her face gradually gravitated toward his.

Nick felt a very light draft hitting his whiskers. Like… _breaths_?

Slowly he opened his eyes only to meet Judy's large nervous gaze under the sheets.

He looked at her with a half lidded dazed look and smiled. "Hey Carrots. Good morning."

He closed his eyes again and cuddled into the mattress.

…

…

…

"CARROTS?!" he jumped outta the bed.

"AHH!" she screamed as she jumped out too.

Both of them fell off the bed landing on the floor in loud thuds.

He stood up quickly rubbing his head vigorously, and one paw extended out toward her direction "Oh my god! I am so sorry! I totally forgot that… that you were sleeping in the bed! I wasn't trying t-"

"No no no!" She reached out in his direction with one paw while the other rubbed her head as well. "I'm! Er. I. I shoulda said something! It was my fault, I know you weren't ya know.."

"Yeah! No! Of course I wasn't! Th-that would be wrong of me! And… yeah. Loook wow… Uhm. I'm really sorry." He began to calm down.

"It's fine, Nick! It's fine!" She was still frantic.

"It is?" he suddenly asked

"Yeah! It's totally fine!"

"It's fine if we slept in the same bed?" he slowly started smirking at her.

"Wha- I…" she turned tomato red.

"I mean…" She twirled her thumbs. "Like… it's your home… I feel bad that I don't… That I don't let you… sleep on your own bed. If anything, I should be the one taking the couch ya know?"

"Nonsense!" He scolded playfully.

His temporarily derailed confidence and smugness got right back on track "You're the guest!... But… Now that you mention it… I suppose it is my home…So I guess it's kinda my rules huh?" he began to scratch his chin and raised one eyebrow at her with a large half lidded grin.

This morning excitement had certainly woken him up.

She winced a little at his lewd tone and gaze.

 _Ugh why does he have to say it like such a creep!_ She glared at him.

"Don't say that like such a… such a creep!" she scolded as she tried to think of another word besides 'creep.'

He laughed and shrugged nonchalantly. "Fine. You can sleep on the couch tonight then." He started walking out of the room slowly. "I'll make us some breakfast"

"Tonight?" she muttered to herself. _He wants me to stay another night?_ She was a little giddy on the inside, but tried her best to remain calm.

His head poked back into the room, "By the way, you look ridiculous in my jacket, just saying."

She looked down, she was still wearing his jacket. She looked back up and blushed intensely. "Be quiet! It was cold ok?!"

He laughed as his receded from the doorway "well don't worry, Fluff... the couch is much warmer."

She pouted a bit and rubbed her arm awkwardly.

…

"That is… unless… you want ME to keep you warm" he chuckled playfully.

"Shut up! No! Who wants to sleep next to a wise-ass, jerkface fox?!" she yelled at him.

His laugh could be heard from the kitchen.

She sat down on the bed and smirked a little.

 _I would love it if you could keep me warm…_


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey bruhs and bruhdettes. Leave reviews! They really inspire me to write more and tickles my marrow~ And follow if yall care for more!**

 ***flies away, hits a plane and dies. Then sacrifices soul to the Blood Lord Baal***

It was about 3 o clock in the afternoon.

Busy click-clacking of keys could be heard in Nick's apartment.

Judy was diligently typing and clicking away on her ZPD assigned laptop.

She had bugged Bogo non-stop to be allowed to do some paperwork in addition to catching up on cases from home.

Initially, he rejected her requests but her perseverance (incessant pestering) made him reconsider.

Nick left for work early in the morning. He had a lot of paperwork to catch up on.

She sipped her coffee and continued scrolling through new case files Nick had begun working on. Her eyes were focused, but tired.

Though she found nothing significant or particularly interesting, she just wished to keep her mind busy and updated.

Finally, after another 10 minutes of reading, she leaned back in her seat and let out a loud yawn accompanied with an outstretching of all four limbs.

She stared at the screen with half-lidded eyes and slowly placed her head down on the table cushioned by her arms.

Despite sleeping better at Nick's place, her lack of physical activities, like her usual chasing after criminals, has made her body feel fatigued and lethargic.

 **Tick- tock- tick –tock –tick –tock**

The sound coming from the wall clock was all she could hear.

Its constant and consistent rhythm began aggravating her for some reason.

She let out a tired sigh.

 _I wonder what Nick's doing…_

Once that thought had completed… **buzzbuzz**.

She received a text message.

Her ears perked and heart raced just a little. This potential conversation was the much needed change in pace of her da-

'If you don't FWD this message, then you will catch the mad cow disease! !#!'

The warning was followed by a ridiculous and overly aggressive religious story regarding the worshipping of some lizard god.

The message came from a private number.

She rolled her eyes, shook her head in annoyance, and turned her phone's screen off as she almost slammed it back down onto the table.

For some reason, Judy was a little upset and agitated this morning. She felt so cramped. Though Nick's living space was much larger than hers, she still felt claustrophobic. She really needed to go out, but she couldn't find the right reason nor motivation.

Judy rubbed her temples vigorously to alleviate a dull headache that's been burdening her all day.

She let out a frustrated moan as she closed the laptop and made her way over to Nick's bedroom.

 _Maybe I'll just take a nap…_

As she approached the foot of the bed, she let out an exasperated sigh and lied down.

For a few minutes she simply stared at the ceiling, then her eyes slowly began to drift.

…

…

 **Buzzbuzz**

Eyes still closed, her ears perked up to the noise.

She grunted in annoyance and tried to ignore it in anticipation of more spam.

Her paw gripped the blanket and pulled it over herself.

…

She tried to ignore it.

…

 _Ah damn it!_

She got up furiously and swiped her phone from the outside table then darted back into the room and under the blankets.

She let out a tired sigh once more still expecting to have her time wasted as she unlocked her phone.

Another text message.

This time from… 'Dumb Fox'

Her tired and frustrated look suddenly took a huge upturn as her frown transformed into a wide smile. Her tail wiggled a little in excitement.

She read the message.

"Hey Carrots, getting out early today. Wanna get dinner?"

Finally an excuse to go out, and a damn good one at that!

She quickly tapped away on her phone

"Would love to! Wait… aren't you behind on paperwork?"

…

"I finished it."

…

"Liar."

…

"Yeah. So you wanna eat or not?"

…

"Nick! :o and I do… I feel like im getting cabin fever."

…

"Haha. Well don't worry, I'll come save you in a bit. Wanna eat at that new restaurant you were bugging me about in Sahara Square?"

…

"Sure! "

…

"Great I'll come get you at 6 after I wrap up. That should give you plenty of time to get ready. Try not to take five million years again."

…

"Shut up! I'll be on time! And you mean after you **ditch** work?"

…

"I like to think of it as a personal emergency tending to a poor distressed bunny woefully in need of my foxy company~"

She looked away from her phone and pretended to gag.

…

"LOL don't flatter yourself, better hope Bogo doesn't find out… I'll see you later then."

…

"Haha I hope so too. Cya fluff."

She locked her phone still wearing a huge grin on her face.

Eating with Nick was not particularly unusual. They did so all the time on their breaks when they're working.

However, what **was** unusual was that this would be the first time they 'went out' outside of work and ate somewhere together. What was even more unusual was that this time he was the one that called for it. Usually it was Judy who bugs him to go try new places to eat during their lunch break.

Judy very briefly daydreamed about it being like out on a date, but quickly doused those thoughts thinking any chances of that was close to nil.

Regardless, she could finally get out and away from her laptop. Quickly, she shot out of bed and proceeded to rummage through her suitcase to find something to wear.

* * *

Nick got in his car and cleared his throat while scanning his own face in the rearview mirror. Checking to see if his fur was nice and groomed. His paws finagling through to fix any irregularities.

For some reason, he was a little nervous to be going out to dinner with Judy tonight.

He didn't think of this little 'outing' as a date either… kinda… sorta… more like an… _experiment_. _Yeah… an experiment._ He smirked at the mirror.

 _It's not like we haven't gone out to eat before! This is normal. Just a normal dinner. Just… simple._

Despite having been so desperate to tell Judy that he loved her during her capture/torture, Nick was faced again with uncertainty and fear of opening up properly to her.

He still remembered what she looked like after having sustained all those injuries, he remembered those indescribable feelings just tearing away at his insides as he cried irrepressibly with Judy in his arms.

Though he promised to never let go… he still could not muster up enough willpower to explicitly divulge his own true feelings to her.

He had a hard time distinguishing exactly what their relationship was…

 _It's just confusing is what it is…_ He muttered in his mind.

He sighed and stared at his dashboard for a few moments.

His whole motto of letting nothing get to him really did not help him at all in figuring this situation out. In fact, it seemed to only help muddy things up for him.

Finally, he shut his eyes and shook his head lightly to escape these seemingly pointless thoughts.

 _I'm just gonna have dinner with her. And that's that._

With that, he started the engine and drove off to pick up Judy.

* * *

She saw his car pull up in front of her.

She was listening to some Gazelle songs on her iPawd as she was waiting

Her ears stood up as she waved with a large grin on her face. She took out the earbuds and gleefully started hopping over to his car.

Judy got in the car and put on her seatbelt then let out a content sigh and looked up at her partner, "Thanks Nick! I really needed to get out of ther-"

He was staring at her in full awe.

"What?" she asked tilting her head in confusion, her ears still perked up high.

"Carrots…"

She paused and waited for him to continue with wide eyes. But he did not.

"Yeeaaa?" She spoke, with one eyebrow raised high, as she twirled her paws a bit to beckon him to finish his sentence. Her heart deep in antipication.

"Carrots… what… what time is it?" he asked in a dramatic tone.

She began to worry she did something wrong, or maybe something else was amiss. She quickly checked her phone.

"It's 5:57 PM. What's wrong Nick? Tell me!"

He quickly rolled down his window and looked up into the sky. His eyes were darting back and forth as if trying really hard to spot something.

"Nick! What's gotten into you?" She necked out onto the dashboard to hopefully find what it was he was searching for in the sky.

"Judy do you see it?!" he asked in almost a yell.

"See what, Nick!? What the fluff is going on!" she yelled back with her arms high above her head with open paws.

"CARROTS! THERE! LOOK!" he suddenly outbursted.

She screamed and waved her arms around wildly "WHAT! WHO! WHERE?!" She looked around desperately to spot whatever the heck he was referring to.

"A blue moon! I knew it! Whew… no wonder you're on time today!" he spoke still in a serious relieved tone.

There was a pause. Judy looked at him in shock.

Slowly, Nick turned to face her with a half-lidded smirk. He raised one eyebrow up smugly.

She did not say a word. Her shocked expression slowly turned into a deep scowl.

Her eyebrows furrowed. "NICHOLAS PIBERIUS WILDE. THAT WAS NOT FUNNY!" She was standing on her seat at this point with her foot thumping wildly. The rage made her face turn a little red.

She started throwing punches at his shoulder hard. Her face was scrunched in anger.

"Stupid stupid fox!"

He finds her angry fits just too adorable not to exploit.

He started laughing uncontrollably as he winced to each punch "Hahahha OW. Hhahaha OW! Ok ok hahahahha OW stop! Ow! Judy I was just kidd- OW!"

"You scared the carrots outta me, Nick! What's wrong with you!" She still held a scowl while glaring at him before turning away to look out the window and crossing her arms.

His laughter persisted but slowly died off. He shifted gears and began driving.

It was a pretty tense and silent car ride. Judy was staring out the window angrily and Nick occasionally shot a couple of short quick glances at her. He was unable to contain his chuckles and smug grins.

…

"Hey." He sneered.

She did not reply. Her eyes fixated on the passing mammals and sidewalk.

"Heyy…" he tried again.

Her face leaned closer to the window distancing herself further from him.

He reached out to rub one of her ears, his paw was quickly swatted away.

"Wow… someone's a little feisty today!" he teased some more.

She ignored his comment and continued to remain speechless.

Another 10 minutes passed in silence.

"So… How was your day, Carrots?"

Still, no reply…

"Wow really? You're still upset about that? Come on fluff, lighten up! It was just a joke." He reasoned with a smirk.

Still no response. Not even a pouty "hmph"

His grin and chuckles died off and turned into a concerned frown. _Did I go too far with that?_ He shook his head reasoning that it was just a joke.

He tried to just stay quiet and give her her space.

They pulled up into the parking lot as Nick perpendicular parked next to a rodent mobile and a giraffe mobile.

He shifted to park and set the e-brake. However, he left his keys in the ignition and kept the engine running. Slowly he turned over to face Judy, who was still facing out the window.

"Alright! We're here! Come on let's go eat, I'm starving!" he tried to state joyfully hoping to lighten the mood.

 **Still** no response.

 _What the hell?_

"Cottontail? What's wrong?"

He slowly reached his paw out again to place it on her shoulder.

Suddenly a stern quivering voice came from the rabbit "Don't. Touch. Me."

Those words stung and really carved deep into the fox's conscious. Each word reverberating in his mind. His eyes widened.

"Carrots... I'm sorry! Was this about the you being on time thing? It was just a joke! I think you're a very punctual rabbit. I'm sorry ok?"

He heard her start to sniffle as she placed her head down into her paws still facing out the window.

His heart sank. How did that joke hurt her so bad? Usually, he had a pretty good grasp over what responses his jokes would warrant. But this was beyond unexpected.

"Carrots…" his tone dialed way down to a voice one would use to comfort a hurt child.

"Hey… Carro- Judy… I'm really sorry ok? I was just being a dumb stupid fox."

She was still sniffling hard.

He felt terrible. His snarky and smart-ass jokes finally bit him in the ass. He felt like he ruined the evening entirely. His head tilted down in shame and guilt.

She was shuddering now and sniffling… "N-Nick?"

His head shot up, his eyes wide as can be as, he started to sweat a little. She finally talked to him. "Yes?" he replied very softly.

"You…" her voice suddenly returned to normal as she quickly sat up straight. "You **are** a dumb stupid fox." She turned around with a smug grin and her arms crossed.

He stared at her dumbfounded with his mouth slightly gaping.

She started laughing uncontrollable just as he did at her. "Look at your face! Hahahahah!" she was holding her stomach from the laughter and wiping away the tear forming in her eyes.

He couldn't really comprehend what just happened.

"Hhahahahha! I got you good, slick! Come on let's go eat!" Judy was so proud of herself. She opened the door and hopped out of the car happily as she skipped toward the restaurant.

Nick was still staring blankly at where the rabbit was sitting in his car. He blinked twice and shook his head to regain his senses.

He shut the car off and got out. For just a minute, he stood there in the parking lot staring at the ground with his paws on his hips.

 _That… that… sly bunny!_ He shook his head, buthe couldn't help but smile.

* * *

From the outside, the 'restaurant' had looked like a fancy place, but by the time Nick and Judy went inside they realized it was just a hipster diner.

They sold a blend of modern cuisine and country-style foods food like grits, mash potatoes, and vegetarian burgers with kale, fish patties, etc. All of which were advertised to be 'GMO and gluten' free. Nick rolled his eyes at the sign.

The store was really green, the staff seemed overly energetic, and the food smelled great.

Judy already loved it and Nick could somewhat appreciate the vibe.

They sat down in a booth near the front counter next to a piece of modern art made of spoons, a car engine, and discarded pieces of metals.

Nick eyed it intently trying to decipher its cryptic meaning.

Judy giggled at how focused he was, and decided to look around the diner appreciating all the little details and imagery they had placed on the walls.

Suddenly an overly-enthusiastic moose approached them

"Hi! How are yall doing today? My name is Saaaannnddyy~ I will be your waitress today. Would you guys like something to drink before I take your orders?"

Nick just stared at her and smirked a little and turned to look at Judy.

Judy looked back at Nick then looked up at the moose waitress and smiled then opened her mouth with one finger raised up.

"Yes, I thi-"

"Yeah some water would be great, Saaaaaaandyy." Nick interrupted. The moose giggled. Judy glared at him.

The moose spoke happily "Great! I'll get you folks some water! Be back in a biiiit~"

Nick relaxed into the seat giving Judy that patented smirk of his. She ignored him and browsed through the menu.

The moose returned with 2 cups of water while still very chipper "Ok! Here we are, two waters for you two lovely mammals. So then! What can I get for you guys?"

Nick sat up and ordered first "Your kale veggie burger, with cheese... And fried crickets. Thanks." He closed the menu as he sat back into the seat.

Judy looked at the moose excitedly "Ooh. I would like mmmmm… a carrot salad with extra croutons please!"

"Sure thing!" the moose was still wearing an ecstatic smile while writing the orders down on a piece of paper.

"I'll be right back with your ord-"

"Actually!" Judy interjected. The moose looked at her with her lips pursed waiting for her to finish.

"Actually… I would also like a Carrot Driver!" she proudly ordered.

Nick's ears fell back. _What the heck is she doing? She never drinks_.

"Oh! Ok sure thing!" She scribbled it down on her paper then turned to Nick.

"Carrots. You sure you wanna drink?" He asked her with some concern.

Judy waved her paw at Nick. "Don't worry Nick! I'll pay for your drink if that's what you're worried around." She giggled a little and looked at him with a smirk of her own.

Nick just looked at the moose then back to Judy.

"Uhhh…Hehe... wouldn't have guessed a place like this had a bar." He chuckled sheepishly.

"Oh yeah! This was a recent addition to our establishment… I don't particularly agree with it… BUT… it's the boss' call and it's here now… SO… pick your **poison,** I suppose!" she laughed a little awkwardly trying to conceal her radical disapproval of alcohol in the restaurant.

Nick scratched the back of his head "I guess… I guess I'll have some Whisker's Whiskey on the rocks."

Suddenly his eyes widened recalling that drunken night they had before. _Oh this is not gonna end well…_

* * *

The food was on their table, and their drinks just staring at them.

Nick cleared his throat and asked awkwardly, "So… what's the occasion, Carrots?"

"Uhh…" She scratched her ear trying to think of something clever to say. Suddenly she snapped with her paw and proclaimed "A toast! To uhm… to surviving!" she raised her glass toward him with both her paws (because the glass was quite large) hoping he would reciprocate. Her ears were perked and she was smiling radiantly.

He didn't move. Nick just continued to stare at her rather unamused and still somewhat confused "…Surviving what?"

She felt her heart sink a little as her ears drooped, she receded her drink as she carefully placed it back down on the table. "Ya know… You saving my life and all… and you survived too. We coulda both died that night…" she rubbed her arm a little uncomfortably. Those words felt weird to say.

Nick's eyes widened. He cursed at himself silently. _How did I forget that… what the hell is wrong with me_? Quickly, he raised his glass toward her.

"Well… As I recalled it, whiskers… you saved MY life… by kicking me in the face." **(A reference to 'Judy's Trial' my prev. fan fic.)** He chuckled a little. Judy looked up at him and her smile returned as she eagerly clasped her drink with both paws and brought it up to Nick's glass.

 **Clink!**

They both chugged the contents before slamming their glasses down on the table.

Nick let out a quiet guttural cough from the weight of the whiskey going down. "Whoo." He exhaled.

Judy's eyes were squinted the whole time she took the gulp. Her eyes were still closed tightly as she placed her glass back down on the table. She then stuck her tongue out with her mouth hanging open "Bleeeghh."

The drink was sweet, but she was still not accustomed to the taste of alcohol.

Judy looked up to check up on Nick who had already recovered and was ordering another glass of whiskey.

Nick just smirked at her. "You ok there, little bunny?"

Her brows furrowed "I'm fine!" She flagged the waitress down and ordered another drink as well.

Nick looked at her with a little worry. "Uhh… Those drinks you're ordering… They're not the same as those beers I gave you last time. They're a LOT stronger, Carrots."

She rolled her eyes at him "I think I can handle myself, Nick." as she folded her arms across her chest.

It was a lie. She knew she couldn't. In fact, she was already feeling the buzz setting in quickly in the back of her head. A heat slowly radiating from her stomach to the rest of her body.

"Uhhh…" He stared at her reddening face. "You couldn't even handle yourself last time…"

She leaned forward toward him with eyes wide open "Ooohh… so you **do** remember what happened last time! The last time I asked you, you said you couldn't recall!" she reminded.

Nick rubbed his face with his paw. _Goddamn it…_ "I don't remember much ok? I just remember a certain bunny was getting a little crazy."

"Crazy?" she looked innocently at him. "Me? Well I never!" she pretended to pout and look away.

He laughed a little. "But seriously, Carrots… I don't thin-"

"Nick… Do you love me?" She suddenly inquired. Her tone was serious and interrogative.

He froze. _Wait... w_ _hat?_

She looked at him with big wide amethyst eyes. Her gaze was so innocent and sincere. He couldn't look away like a force was prying his eyelids open and fixating his eyes on hers.

His mouth felt dry as he opened it slowly. Eyes widened to the size of two moons.

"Uh."

It didn't make sense to him. Why couldn't he tell her how he felt? He was so sure he wanted to say it to her before but he was just caught completely off guard with her sudden question.

Her large beautiful eyes staring him down... he felt every shred of courage he had left begin to wilt. His heart was pounding rapidly. Hers was too.

His mouth gaped as if already starting to speak, but no sound was coming out. He began to sweat.

She leaned in a bit closer and her mouth gaped a little exposing her two rabbit-y front teeth. Her nose wiggled a bit in anticipation.

"Uh…"

Suddenly, the moose set down their next round of drinks. "Here ya guys go! Lemme know if yall need anything else alright?" She smiled and walked off.

Nick stared at his whiskey and Judy stared at her cocktail.

…

…

…

"Let's uhh... Let's just continue drinking." he suggested suddenly.

Her ears fell to her back. She glared at him a little not too pleased with him changing the subject, but relented figuring drinking was ok with her too. Either way, it was going to be a fun night she predicted. Plus she was definitely gonna try again later. _He's gonna answer me whether he likes it or not!_

Nick slammed back his drink and let out a warm exhale. _Alright…_ _this is gonna be a long night…_

Oh and it's just begun Nick… It's just begun…


	4. Chapter 4

Judy's maniacal laughter filled the diner.

Nick's ears perked up as he tried desperately to shush her while his eyes were scanning all around from embarrassment. Other mammals were staring and talking about them from their tables.

"Whiskers! Ya gotta calm down! It wasn't that funny. Other mammals are looking!" he scolded in a whisper yell.

Judy stared at him still with a goofy, toothy smile like Flash when Nick told him that pregnant camel joke. She was still laughing and giggling stupidly in between. Her face was cherry red.

Nick just stared back and slowly brought his paws up to close her gaping grin, he couldn't help chuckling awkwardly himself. She just looked so ridiculous and adorable.

"You're gonna drool all over the table, Carrots…"

"Oh cawm awwnn Neek… it was totally hilari-funny! Just think about it!" she babbled while waving her paws in front of his face and her face leaning forward. Her eyes were bouncing around everywhere.

"Carrots, I know it's funny I was the one who told-" He was cut off by the rabbit.

"Nick… Nicholas… Nicholayyyyooouhhh…. Nicky." She suddenly giggled at that last nickname.

She placed two paws over her mouth in surprise with wide eyes "Oh my gosh! I'll call you Nicky now!" She said with a squeal.

"Please don't." He pleaded in an annoyed tone, while his paws beckoned her to quiet down.

"SO. **Nicky** … The reason why you call a three humped camel pregnant is cuz…uhhmm… is cuz that's… that's uhh… that's where the baby is! D-Do you get it? It's so funny!" She continued to lecture while clasping her head like it's a mind-blowing revelation.

Nick sighed in frustration. "Alright Jud, you can tell me all about it when we go home ok?"

He looked up to signal the waitress for the check.

"Go home? But Nickyyy…I…" she paused to smack her lips and her eyes closed to a squint. She looked like she forgot what she was about to say.

He chuckled awkwardly again "Hahaha… ok, Carro-"

"BUT… I'm- *gasp* we should go dancing!" she suddenly let out in an outburst, her eyes widened.

Nick quickly placed his paws over her mouth.

"Shhh!" he shushed again.

She giggled and whispered excitedly while bouncing in her seat "We should go daaancing~" Her paws gripped the edge of the table while her head leaned toward Nick. Her tail wiggled a bit in excitement.

The moose waitress swung by, "Alrighty! Here's the check lemme know if you folks need anything els-" She looked at Judy who was staring at her with a wide smile.

The waitress looked at her with some concern then looked at Nick, giving him a suspicious look.

He laughed awkwardly "Ha-ha-ha ok! Thanks a lot Sandy! Just leave the bill there, I'll get it." He quickly swiped up the check and paid the bill.

"Keep the change! Come on let's go, Carrots…" He got out of his seat and helped Judy off of hers then they made their way to the door.

Suddenly, the moose stopped Nick and Judy by clearing her throat authoritatively. Nick slowly turned around.

"I'm sorry, but I just have to ask…" She squatted down to look at Judy in the eyes sincerely. "Honey… are you sure you want to go home with this gentlemammal?"

Nick was shocked and a little offended at first, but understood where the concern was coming from. Other mammals were staring too.

Judy just flashed a huge smile. "Yeahhhh~ Don't worry about it! He's… mah boyfrieeendd~"

The moose and Nick both looked shocked and were speechless.

"Oh." The waitress turned to look at Nick with wide eyes.

"Uhh… hehehe. Yeah?" he answered sheepishly while scratching the back of his head.

"Oh! Well sorry to come off so rude! I was just concerned was all." She apologized.

Nick was already pulling Judy out of the diner. He waved quickly at the waitress "Yep! Thank you very much. Have a great night! Bye!" Judy was wobbling and stumbling from trying to keep up.

"Be safe, yall~!" The moose gave the couple a double take before shrugging and returning to tend to other customers.

* * *

Nick dragged Judy out to the parking lot and sat her down in the car.

Before he entered the driver's seat he quickly exhaled into his paw and whiffed it.

 _Nope definitely would fail the breathalyzer test._

Judy suddenly hopped out of Nick's car and wobbled her way over to the cement concrete bumpers in a vacant parking space near Nick and sat down.

Nick hadn't noticed she got out.

Suddenly she grabbed Nick's paw. Nick jumped a little and quickly looked down to see a drunk, toothy smiling rabbit.

"Youuuu admitted you were my boyfren…deh" she smiled at him smugly and quarter-lidded, pointing at him with one paw.

He just stared at her with an awkward and uncomfortable look "It was just so we can get out of the restaurant Carrots, you know it's not true" He answered quickly and shook her paw free while he went onto the sidewalk to try hail a cab.

"Hey…. But…. But I like youuu Nicky…"

His ears perked as she glanced at her, but he quickly turned away focusing on getting a cab.

"No really, Nick! I do… I lik-"

"You're just drunk Carrots. You won't even remember this in the morning."

"I remember what happened the last time we got drunk." She replied suddenly.

Nick's heart froze and he felt his stomach implode. His face reddened.

His brain stopped for just a moment before its machinery slowly resumed.

 _Wait… she knew what happened this whole time? Then why did sh-_

"I just said I forgot cuz I tricked you~" she said stupidly and proudly as she followed up with a giggle.

Suddenly, he stopped looking for a cab and slowly walked over to Judy with a flabbergasted expression.

...

"Wait… so you knew? Then… why?" he tried hard to find better words.

She had a hard time sitting straight as her body listed slowly to the left and the right… backward and forward…

But Nick could tell she was trying really hard to keep her balance and her answers coherent.

Judy cleared her throat and tried to look at him with a serious drunk face.

"It's cuz… I… wished… to uh.. I wanted to know if you felt the same… I know we're partners and all… buttuhhhhh….. I-I donnoah… I just like you… We have good times, don't we Nicky?" The whole time she spoke, she was flailing her paws around hoping to help convey her points, but she just ended up looking like a broken puppet.

Suddenly she looked up at him with a disappointed look. Her tone became low and quiet "Annnd… yeah… But… I remember…I remember that you don't feel the same way... don't worry…"

But her recollection of that incident only worried him more. He continued to look at her with furrowed brows. Slowly he sat down next to her all the while carefully observing her.

"Carrots…" he started, but quickly shut his mouth not knowing what to follow up with.

For a long time, they just sat in silence. Judy just stared at the parking lot light. Nick just stared at her.

She turned her head to look at the ground. "I don't… I don't even like drinking…" she suddenly said in a sad tone while slowly shaking her head.

Nick looked her a little confused but still primarily concerned. "Then why did you.."

"Because!" she turned to look at him in the eyes. Her eyes were watery. She wasn't crying though. He could tell she was trying very hard to stay strong.

"Because, I… I feel braver when I'm drunk…and…" She started to look ashamed. "It's the only time it feels like… there's a chance you'd love me back." She said with her paws clenched on her lap as the tears rolled down her eyes. Her nose twitched uncontrollably.

He looked at her with great sadness of his own. His eyes glossed over.

Judy's desperate search for courage reminded him of his own desperate search. At least she somehow found some, but he was still too weak… and far too afraid.

"Nick… why…" She sniffled. "…Why **don't** you…?" Her voice broke as she shook her head in defeat and now the tears were really starting to roll. She was sniffling incessantly, but she was still fighting the violent outpour of sadness welling up behind her eyes.

Nick's eyes also watered a bit. It killed him to see her like this. Especially if it's just something he could fix, but he just did not have the guts. _Come on! What the hell are you doing? Don't let them get to you! Don't let HER get to you!_

He simply said nothing. Just wearing a remorseful look on his face.

She broke down and began crying into her knees. The tears sent shudders through her body as she sobbed.

He didn't know what to say as he just watched her cry. His heart hurt so much, but his mind and body did nothing. All he did was stare at the ground and place one paw on her shuddering back.

Her sniffles and cries were muffled, but he could feel the genuine pain.

"Uh… Carrots…" His voice was a bit shaky. _Why can't I just say it to her?_ He was trembling slightly from the deep inner conflict.

She looked at him with tears still streaming. _Why can't he love me?_

They both just stared at each other for a long time in the dark parking lot illuminated by a single light. The stars covered the skies and the moon was slightly obstructed by wisps of the silhouetted clouds.

Suddenly a cab pulled over by the sidewalk.

The window rolled down. "Hey! You two need a lift? I saw you waving earlier, I had to make a huge U-turn way down near Herd's Herbs." The raccoon cab driver spoke with a gruff voice.

Nick stood and looked up at him. "Uh…" He looked down at Judy. She buried her face back into her knees. _It's probably best if we finished this at home, I can pick my car up in the morning._ "Yeah sure. Thanks."

Nick carefully helped Judy into the cab.

The whole ride back, neither of them spoke a word to each other.

He had Judy's head in his lap as he lightly rubbed her ear, he faced out the window of the cab.

Judy's breath reeked of alcohol and her eyes were swollen and red.

Nick just gazed half-lidded at the passing lights and décor of Zootopia while reflecting on the events that had just occurred tonight...

* * *

As they entered Nick's apartment complex, Judy was still very wobbly and uncoordinated, so Nick had to piggy-back her up the stairs.

This initially fun evening had gone south really quick. And Nick blamed himself entirely for it. _I shoulda never let her drink._

He shook his head angrily as he gingerly laid Judy down on his bed. Quickly, he dashed to the kitchen to move his trashcan beside the bed. He also brought 2 glasses of water as well. He was anticipating the poor rabbit's eventual need of 'outward cleansing.'

She looked like she was falling asleep already as she writhed around in the blankets and mumbled incoherently.

About another 5 minutes passed, she was still shifting around uncomfortably as if in distress. Her eyes were shut tightly though.

"Hey… you just gotta drink some water." He sat her up and held the glass to her small mouth as she drank it slowly.

She started coughing as he pulled away from choking on a little bit of the water. He quickly placed the glass back down on the nightstand and slapped her back to help clear her lungs.

Finally, when that ordeal was finished. She lied back down exhausted.

He never seen her like this. Her spirits seemed so drained and her complexion was terrible. Her fur a total mess.

 _I did this…_ He sighed. Nick stared at the mirror on the wall.

He thought about how Judy was the whole reason he turned his life around. She was the reason he could even fathom on believing in himself again. She gave him hope and newfound purpose. Something that some mammals can search a hundred lifetimes for and still never find. This crazy rabbit had changed his life forever in all the best ways. So why can't he just give her one small 3-worded phrase? A phrase he already wants to say deep down inside.

He looked at her. Fur all ruffled, lying in awkward uncomfortable positions, writhing, and moaning in discomfort.

To make matters worse, suddenly Judy sat up quickly. Her neck started craning back and forth as she made a gagging noise.

 _Oh god. Here it comes._

He quickly positioned her head over the trash can.

After a few more gagging head movements, Judy suddenly upchucked most of her dinner and half of her soul into the trashcan.

She groaned in pain as she wiped her mouth. "Uhhnnn… I think… I think that's bette-" her head suddenly recoiled as another jet of her food shot into the trash can.

Nick just kept patting her back as he cringed a little at the sight. It wasn't his first time having to help someone with their party foul. It was just incredibly hard to see Judy in this state.

As she finished, she let out a few retching coughs and spat out excess saliva. Her eyes were almost in a daze. Slowly, she seemed to recover from the onslaught.

"Ok… **now** that's better." She said with a drunk grin. "I'm sorry Nick…"

"Don't worry about it." He pat her head and quickly offered some water. She accepted it gladly and used it to quench her endless thirst and to gurgle-cleanse her mouth.

She lied back down with eyes wide open staring at the ceiling and exhaled.

Her head was still pounding, but she felt she regained some clarity.

Nick slowly placed the cup back down and lied down on the bed just about a foot away from her, he also stared at the ceiling.

The clock ticked away on the wall.

 **Tick- tock- tick- tock- tick**

…

…

…

10 minutes passed like this. Both of them completely unable to sleep.

Judy turned to lie on her side facing the edge of the bed and away from Nick.

…

…

…

Suddenly Judy felt Nick's arms wrap around her waist as he brought them closer together on the bed.

Her eyes widened. _Is this a dream_?

She felt Nick's snout placed gently over her shoulder. His breath was calm, but she felt his heart jumping out of his chest against her back.

Her face reddened. This was almost surreal.

Neither of them spoke as they laid their quietly yet intensely. His heart was still beating rapidly, but hers quickly caught up to his cadence.

…

…

Suddenly, he placed a paw on her shoulder as he slowly turned her around to face him.

His emerald green eyes were wide open staring into her big round amethyst eyes.

Both of their cheeks were flushed.

…

…

Suddenly Nick broke the silence. "Well…"

…

…

"I hope you'll remember this."

Her eyes widened as he spontaneously planted his lips firmly onto hers. His eyes closed as hers only widened.

This moment of passion passed as quickly as it had started.

As he retracted from her face, his eyes slowly opened. His heart calmed. Suddenly everything felt right.

This was all he felt when he was desperately trying to rescue her.

This was all he felt when he saw her bleeding and dying.

This was all he felt when he sat next to that hospital bed talking to an unconscious bunny.

This is all that he feels **now**. Right here. Right now. No more fear, no more bullshit.

She stared at him still with eyes wide open. She blinked twice as if in a daze.

Nick smiled. "I love you, Judy." He made sure to state it audibly and clearly. Suddenly he felt overwhelmed as he quickly pulled her in for a tight embrace.

The dams erected by doubt and fear just collapsed. Now the emotions came rolling through... and so did the tears.

 _Never let them see that they get to you…_ _What a load of crap…_


	5. Chapter 5

**It's a me~, sister. I'm a dirty man whore that requires your textual attention. So please leave reviews! I appreciate the radical approval, disapproval, and in-between opinions! If you tickle my marrow hard enough, I'll def reply to you via this sophisticated bold-lettered preface! So please… Tickle me, you dirty capitalist Czechs (I'm not sexist).**

 **Also follow/fav if you guys like, if you don't like this *inhales loudly in a shudder*… well come to my place and we can talk this over with a nice back rub and a game of nude air hockey. Bring lube and lotion. ;) K. Get the hell out of my face and read my shit. XOXOXOXO**

 _So now what?_

She stared dreamily at the fox in the kitchen making breakfast. His poofy red tail was swishing back and forth.

The smell of waffles filled the apartment.

 _Last night was great… but… what now?_

After Nick finally found the courage to tell her how he truly felt, they simply laid there just spooning each other until they both fell asleep.

By the time Judy had woken up, Nick was already in the kitchen. Nothing was discussed, nothing was really concluded.

Despite that, for now… Nick's confession was more than enough for Judy. She thought she would figure that out with him later.

"And there we go! Two carrot waffles for you. And two rabbit flavored waffles for me." He allocated the breakfast accordingly. Nick rubbed his paws together to demonstrate how appetizing his meal looked to him before he shot a mischievous smile at Judy.

Judy just stared at him in shock and almost disgust. Her ears perked up high.

He smirked at her before laughing "I'm just kidding, Jud! It's blueberry. Besides… I already had my fill of rabbit." He winked at her.

She glared at him playfully, but her smile broke through almost too quickly. To compensate for that, she gave him a playful but strong punch to the arm.

He winced "Ow" As he rubbed his arm.

They ate in silence for about 15 minutes, Nick got up in between to check on the coffee dripper.

When the coffee was totally ready, he began pouring coffee into 2 cups.

As he poured, he asked loudly from the kitchen "still the same crazy rabbit coffee?"

Judy was still sitting at the table outside the kitchen. She furrowed her brows, but tried to remain appreciative. "It's not crazy! It's just the usual! … Please and thank you!"

"Alright! One crazy rabbit coffee coming right up!" Nick shouted back.

'Crazy rabbit coffee' alluded to her seemingly insatiable need for sugar in her coffee. Most of the time, 4 packets for a small cup would do… but sometimes, when the morning was especially difficult to handle… Judy required so much sugar that the water becomes completely saturated and is unable to dissolve anymore sugar.

 _Crazy is an understatement really…_ Nick shook his head slowly as he reluctantly added the heaps of sugar she demanded into her cup.

It took a lot of stirring before the sugar fully dissolved. He tapped the metal stirring-spoon on the brim of the glass before setting it down into the sink.

Finally, Nick walked back out and set the two coffees down on the table.

Judy smiled at him "Thanks Nick" she took a sip of her carb saturated drink. She carefully appraised its taste by swishing it around in her mouth before swallowing the scalding liquid.

She let out a content sigh as her eyes relaxed into a half-lidded gaze. Her ears slowly drooped in response to the goodness she felt and tasted.

He chuckled as he watched her drink her coffee. "That's gonna kill you one day, rabbit."

She placed her cup down. "Hey… something's gonna kill all of us one day. I wouldn't mind death by a great cup of coffee." She chuckled and finished with a content exhale through her nose.

Nick's eyes widened as he frowned for half a second before regaining composure. "As philosophical as that was… I'd prefer it if you just didn't die at all, Carrots." He finished with a weak smirk but sincere tone as his eyes fell a bit. He quickly took a sip of his coffee to relieve some awkwardness he felt in saying that.

She smiled sheepishly at him remembering the whole life-death situation they had experienced together and decided it was best just not to joke about this topic. It wasn't that funny… and it doesn't seem to make either of them comfortable, so she tried to change the subject.

"Hahaha… I'd prefer that as well! Anywho… How's the case with that perp in Tundatown stealing everyone's mail?" She asked with a chipper voice and a big grin.

Nick looked up at her. "Uh… Yeah… It's going good I think. I mean we found the guy and all." He seemed to have stopped abruptly as he looked to the side contemplatively. "Uhh… hey… Carrots?"

She was in a mid-sip of her coffee, her ears perked as her eyes looked up at him.

Nick placed his elbows on the table as he leaned forward slightly with a bothered look on his face.

He spoke quickly in the beginning and slowed toward the latter half. "I don't mean to disregard your question. I'll get back to that in a bit… but… I just… I have a question…"

He had her attention, her expression was now concerned and wide-eyed. She gulped the sip she held in her mouth with deep anticipation. Her nose twitched a little.

Judy then leaned forward slightly as well. "Uhm… Sure Nick! Anything!"

He averted his gaze away from her.

She could see he was nervous. As a result, she felt that vicarious tension in her heart as well.

…

…

…

"Well… Now that… Ya know… Uhm…" He cleared his throat. "Now… that…*inhales deeply* That uhhh… Everything is uhhh… out and about there." He twiddled his fingers on the table to pantomime the 'things out there' "Heh… Ya know… the whole uhh lovey stuff… between… uhh… you… and me…" He gestured to Judy and then to himself. His eyes were darting every direction except directly at Judy.

Judy's heart was racing as was Nick's. Both of their faces flushed. This was awkward as hell. At this point, they're both still technically partners and platonic friends… but… so much has happened since the torture incident…

He let out an exasperated sigh as he looked down at the floor. Nick felt fed up with his lack of composure whenever he thought about Judy. He decided he's just going to conquer his weakness here and now, by speaking forwardly and concisely.

"Ok. Listen here, rabbit." Nick spoke suddenly gruffly and seriously.

Judy was slightly intimidated by his suddenly commanding voice. She gave him her undivided attention (although to be honest, he already had her undivided attention anyway).

"So now that we've both kinda fess'd up to how we feel and all…" He tried speaking the whole time with furrowed brows, but quickly noticed Judy seems a little scared, so he dialed it down a couple notches. His eyes were sincere and his voice deflated slightly once again.

"So… What are we now?" he inquired.

Judy just sat there in silence digesting his question. That exact same question was running in her mind all morning, but now that Nick had verbalized it… she wasn't sure what to say.

Nick felt like his confidence caught some momentum so he quickly continued "I mean…" he stood up out of his seat as he started to pace and rant "I know this is stupid… like… I know we're partners… But are we… partners that occasionally kiss? Or maybe go out on occasional dates? Or are we ya know… mates? Like… life partners? And this is gonna be interspecies so… Other mammals will definitely frown upon this… oh god… let alone Bogo. Our jobs… Your dream! I mean… Ya know what I mean right, Carrots?"

As he finished his stream of consciousness, he turned to look at Judy who was just sitting there staring at the floor with an extremely sad look on her face. Her ears drooped very low.

He raised both eyebrows and his ears fell back. Nick began feeling really bad that he was overwhelming her with his thoughts.

 _What am I doing? She's got a lot on her plate too… Recovering from the coma and the trauma… and here I am drowning her in more stress?_

He pawed himself across the head as he reflected his words.

Nick looked up again Judy with a sincere look "I'm sorry, fluff. I don't mean to overwhelm you… I guess… I've been wondering about it for a long time. And… *sigh* listen… Don't worry about it. We'll figure it out lat-"

"No." She suddenly spoke in a solemn voice.

His eyes widened, he wasn't sure what she meant by 'no.'

Nick slowly made his way over to the table as he took a seat, his emerald gaze never averting from her.

He didn't speak, he simply waited for a response.

…

…

…

Judy sighed. She tilted her head up to face him. Her eyes looked tired and stressed.

"No… You're right. We should figure this out right here… right now." She sat up straight suddenly her voice was filled with determination.

Nick seemed a bit taken aback from her abrupt emanation of enthusiasm.

"We should?" he asked blankly.

"Yes… yes we should Nick. So! You… you love me right?"

"…" Nick gulped, but quickly embraced his newfound courage. "Yes. I do love you, Judy Hopps." He proclaimed with much authority.

She couldn't help but smile and blush. Her eyes averted from his briefly.

Nick raised both his eyebrows thinking he did something wrong. "Uhh… If… If that's ok with you that is…"

"No no no! Of course it's ok! Because… Because I love you too, Nick Wilde."

These words in this particular syntax was really unusual for Nick to hear and say. His heart was racing. The cliché butterfly fluttering in his stomach began to set in.

Despite Judy being more comfortable with the idea… she felt just as fluttery and bubbly as he did during this whole exchange.

"And… and… because of that" She continued bravely. "Because… we love… each other…" Her palms sweated a bit. "We should be together."

His eyes widened some more, and his ears fell back as his pessimistic brain and optimistic heart battled. These two organs had very conflicting opinions on the matter.

Regardless, he knew deep down he wanted nothing more but to be with her. At the very least to try it out and see how they'd fare.

Neither of them spoke for a while. Both of them started to rub their own arms and stare awkwardly to the side trying to grasp the situation.

…

…

…

Nick rubbed the back of his head.

"Alright. Sounds good, Carrots. So… Ya wanna go see a movie with me or something?"

Judy's ears perked as her face lit up with a wide smile. "I would love to, Nick!"

He chuckled as his patented smirk finally returned as if he totally regained control again.

"So do I call you babe now?"

Her blush intensified. "Hahaha… slow down there, slick. I think I've got plenty of nicknames already."

"Alright alright…" he sneered as looked up at the ceiling as if giving great thought. Suddenly he snapped his fingers, his face wore a mischievous grin.

"Then we'll reuse an all-time favorite: cottonbutt."

Judy scrunched her face in disapproval and furrowed her brows. "I don't think so! You…err… you dumb fox!" _Man that was weak…_ she wasn't impressed with herself.

Nick just laughed. It would seem he wasn't impressed either. "Then it's settled!" He reached out with one paw to pet the angry bunny on the head. "Cottonbutt it is!"

She gave him a playful punch to the stomach. He winced slightly gripping his abdomen as if in horrible pain.

Suddenly, he felt her paws wrap around his waist and her cheek pressed against his chest.

She had him in a tight embrace.

Nick smiled as he reciprocated, one paw rubbing her head.

A sincere hug that seemed to have lasted an eternity. As they held onto each other, it was as if time itself had decided to take a break and leave them to their own devices. Suddenly neither of them sensed anything else besides each other. The breaths they took, their scent, the touch of their fur, and the beat of each other's hearts. All of these small details were seemingly all they could perceive during this simple physical connection.

Both Nick and Judy closed their eyes after a minute into the hug. Never had they felt so comfortable just standing in one place motionless and silent.

…

…

…

…

The silence was broken as Judy looked up at Nick with her wide amethyst eyes.

"I hope… I hope this will work out…" she stated innocently.

"Me too, Carrots… And it will! So don't stress yourself out." Nick reassured.

He brought her face closer to his chest as he whispered quietly into the air

"I really hope it does…"

I hope so too… but sometimes life finds interesting ways to complicate things…


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey you democratic communists! It's me again, your step dad! Back with another episode to nickjudy fenfic. Unfortunately, not much love (aka reviews) this time around… but ya know it's whatevers. I've run outta tears to shed, so I'll resort to shedding various bodily fluids (if catch my drift hehe). However! There was still SOME love nonetheless from a few amazing people-persons.**

 **Gshunt1993** : WHY HAVEN'T YOU BEEN READING THIS HMM? But I'm glad you are now. You may not know this… but I've been sneaking to your place every night since you left your review to give you back (and front *slurp*) massages. That feeling of pure bliss when you wake up in the morning? Das me homie. I'm glad you're loving it, and dw I no rush no rushhh. *marrow jiggles in bone from tickling* I mailed you a pair of light saber nunchucks! I hope you're enjoying them and don't actually try to use them cuz- well you'll find out. I'm not liable btw.

 **Kayt:** I love you. Thanks for reviewing twice… with the same comment! *2 high fives* I hope you evolve to a strong butterfly with big beautiful wings. Also I hope your goals of becoming an ale brewmeister in Munich is achieved without trepidation. Good luck! And thank you! Also I know it's your favorite… so I sent you the bundle package of various used soaps and sponges from under my sink. I know! I know! I just love spoiling you~.

 **Syhsnakey:** Snakey! Mah boygirl! The 'akward' is quite powerful in my literature. I hope you will look forward to my future work. I hope you become the first outer-space financial advisor you've always wanted to be ever since your favorite cousin told you that one time that you were good at naming constellations! I also hope you received the lavender scented sex oils I sent you via email. On an unrelated note, if you happen to receive another package with interesting blocks of white powdery substance, please mail back to sender and do not call the cops. Thanks!

 **Now on with show!1!11!one!**

* * *

Nick let out an exasperated sigh as he pushed himself away from his desk to rub his eyes. Soon after, he let out an exhausted yawn.

Slowly, his sleepy half lidded eyes looked up to the clock. _It's only 2 PM? Damn…_ He made a frustrated groan as he put his head down on the table softly, his arms soon followed.

It had been about two months since Judy finally was deemed able to return to work. She was ecstatic and worked more diligently and quickly than she ever worked before. The near-death experience seemed to have awoken her hidden inner beast of passion and speed—not that she lacked either. Nick however, couldn't quite keep up with her cadence and was quickly drained from her newfound enthusiasm. _As if she wasn't already enthusiastic enough_.

As for their relationship, ever since they became mates… Judy practically lived at Nick's place, many of her belongings already moved in with her as well.

The couple didn't act much different either… every aspect of their friendship was still intact. Except that they did kiss more, sleep in same bed more, get touchy more, hold hands more, hug/cuddle more, and exchange verbal sweet nothings more… but other than that… no difference!

And their respect and support for each other never were unwavering.

Overall, it was going great! The only apparent obstacle thus far was keeping the whole thing a secret, which proved to be surprisingly easy. The only mammal that cared and practically figured it out was Clawhauser… _but that was to be expected I suppose._ Nick scoffed as he scratched the top of his head—his face still resting on the table.

"Hey." A sweet and very familiar voice spoke to him from the entrance of his cubicle.

He sat up to meet the very welcomed voice. "Hey, Carrots." He managed to greet back somewhat cheerily, still his fatigue and boredom was apparent in his tone.

She was smiling as she walked in.

Judy approached him and they exchanged a quick kiss on the lips "Muah." Nick grinned as he lightly stroked her chin. "Hehehe. Hey, Nicky~" she giggled a bit.

Judy found a seat by the wall as she pushed it toward his table then hopped on it and sat down. All the while still maintaining a wide grin. Her ears were standing especially straight and up today. She wiggled her tail a bit into the seat.

Nick chuckled with his famous smirk. _She's so cute._ His admiration didn't last long before his fatigue reared its ugly head out into his own head again. "NNnnnnn… Whiskers, I freaking. Hate. Paper. Work." His brief smile quickly turned into a gaunt expression of suffering.

Judy giggled as she watched the red vulpine drone on about his inability to go on with life if he had to write another report.

Though she was listening to his complaints, something else was on her mind that made her so giddy inside. She nodded and 'mhm'd his laments intently, but she kept wiggling around in her seat with a dumb smile on her face.

Suddenly, Nick stopped as he took notice to her unusually prominent excitement (well… she was always excited to work, but he was gauging relatively).

She smiled at him widely with her paws clenched to the cushion of the seat. Nick raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Ok. It's clear my seething pain is somehow making you happy." He glared at her playfully.

She couldn't contain it anymore as a little high pitch giggle slipped through her front teeth. Her feet were kicking with excitement.

Nick sighed "Alright cottonbutt… spit it out… what is it?"

Judy opened her mouth quickly and inhaled audibly before speaking.

"I…" she placed one paw on her chest proudly. "Lt. Judy Hopps… may very well soon... become…" Nick remained unamused. " _Detective_ Judy Hopps!" she finished with a smug and wide smile on her face.

Suddenly a huge smile spread across Nick's face. "Oh my god! Carrots! No way! Congratulations!" He shot out of his seat in excitement and embraced his bunny.

"Ah! Nick!" She laughed loudly as she tried to reciprocate, but was swept off her feet.

He was laughing too. His snout began showering her face with kisses.

They were both laughing blissfully for a while until an officer from the next cubicle cleared his throat loudly.

Both their ears perked up as they quickly shut their mouths. Their eyes met as they turned to face each other. Judy let out a quiet excited giggle while fist pumping the air. Nick just smirked at her as he pulled her into another embrace.

He chuckled softly and congratulated her again quietly "Great job, Carrots. So proud of you."

She giggled some more. "Thank you Nick! Chief said I've been very efficient for the past 2 months and just thought I deserved a shot at moving up! And apparently, my observations and case reports were really quite insightful." She let out a playful cocky laugh "Heh heh!"

"Well that's great! Have I got present for you then!" He gestured toward his computer hoping he could ride the momentum of her joy to get her to complete the rest of his work.

She giggled again. "No~ Nice try, slick. That's for you to complete. Plus, if you do good! I'm sure you'll get promoted too! Then we can both be detectives! Oooh! That would be awesome!" She imagined both of them wearing trench coats and solving crimes with large magnifying glasses. Her tail wiggled in excitement as her eyes looked toward the ceiling dreamily.

Nick rolled his eyes with a smirk on his face slowly shaking his head at the bubbly little bunny. "Like Bogo will ever allow that. And I kinda like this field of work better anyway." He thought about it for a second. "Well, except the paperwork I suppose," he updated his previous statement.

She continued to encourage him, "No really Nick! Work hard! It would be great if you could make detective too. That way we can work together again!"

Nick's ears suddenly fell flat. _Wait…_

 _..._

"Uhhh.. What do you mean work together _again_?"

Judy's wide smile started to dial down into an awkward grin as her eyes looked down slowly.

"Oh… Uh… Ya know… Cuz if I make detective, we won't be partners anymore." She answered sheepishly.

"Well yeah." He scratched his head while looking away briefly before quickly returning his gaze to meet her eyes. "But… Won't we still work on cases together sometimes? And work at the same place?" His brows were furrowed. His tone was a little more demanding and anxious than his usual nonchalant tone.

She rubbed one of her arms as all her excitement seemed to drain. Her eyes were scanning the ground for words to help convey what she needed to tell him. Her lips pursed tightly—her mouth felt dry.

"Uhh… That's… that's the second thing I wanted to talk to you about, Nick." She slowly made her way over to her seat and sat down.

Nick moved toward his desk as he also took a seat. His eyes were fixated on Judy's the whole time. He felt like his heart was palpitating. This anxiety was killing him.

 _Is… is she leaving me here? What the hell's going on? Where could she go anyway?_

"So…" She cleared her throat. "Chief said… new detectives have to train in this other metropolis outside of Zootopia."

Nick felt his heart stop. "Oh. Where? And for how long?" He gulped subtly.

She looked up at Nick "I'm not sure yet either… Hehe to be honest, I didn't know there were other places like Zootopia. And as for how long…?" Her eyes shot to the ground again.

His eyes widened slowly anticipating her answer.

"Uhhh… Bogo said about half of a-"

"Week? Oh thank god…" Nick quickly sighed in a relief as he began to pace and look away from her. His denial made him extrapolate her words. "I mean… Ya know… I guess I can handle your workload for a few days. Shouldn't be too bad if I jus-"

"Nick…" She interjected assertively. He stopped and slowly turned to look at her. He looked at her like he really didn't know what she was about to say.

"It's… half a year." She spoke in almost a somber tone as if she was telling him someone he loved had died.

It might as well have been that because it sure as hell felt like that. Nick just stood there frozen solid—he felt his heart crumble a bit.

They had been apart befur (hehe). But since Nick joined the force, he saw her every single day. Not once did either of them complain about that. In fact, they relished the time they spent together even the boring uneventful periods. They played and worked amazingly together. The synergy and support they had was simply unparalleled by any other pair in the ZPD.

Which is why Nick stood there dumbstruck by her words. _Why would… How could she even… fathom that… We just became mates! I… but… Her dream… No, her dream was to become a police officer! Not a… What?! Aghh!_ He couldn't think straight. His thoughts bounced and flew around in every direction. He felt a sudden pounding headache.

On the surface of all that, all Judy saw was an extremely tense and furrowed-brow fox staring at her intently. He nodded so many times even way after she had finished speaking. Clearly he was engrossed by his own thoughts.

"Nick?" she waved her paw.

He blinked twice and finally escaped the daze he was trapped in. He shook his head rapidly as he rubbed his forehead.

"Oh." Was all he could muster up to say.

…

…

…

Shortly after, he followed up with a quick and quiet, "...I see…"

She looked at him with sad eyes as she rubbed her two paws together nervously. Her heart was racing and her ears drooped. She had an idea what he was feeling only because she felt it too when Bogo told her about the terms of acceptance. Seeing him like this really killed her on the inside. Judy was dying to know exactly how he had felt about the situation.

Suddenly, she realized she did not clarify one crucial point to him.

But before she could even open her mouth.

"Uh. Sorry Carrots, I... I gotta go do something." Nick quickly walked past her. His tail brushed past her leg.

Her mouth was still open as if about to speak, but after realizing he had already left, she closed it.

He hadn't even given her a goodbye kiss or hug. Since they became mates, every farewell and hello was usually accompanied by some physical affection—a _kiss or hug or_ _something_! His blatant disregard for that tradition was clearly indicative he was upset.

She stared at the entrance of the cubicle with a depressed look. But she didn't dwell on that for long before she decided she needed to chase him down. Quickly, she sprinted out of the cubicle.

Judy looked around everywhere in the offices. _Where the heck did he go?_

Eventually she made it all the way down to ground floor and saw Clawhauser stuffing his face with more donuts while grooving with his shoulders to that new Gazelle song.

She quickly ran up to his counter. "Ben! Where's Nick?"

"Oh! Aww… Is it cuz you guys have a date? That's so cut-"

"BEN!" She suddenly yelled in a fit of frustration.

The cheetah recoiled back from her sudden fury as he shut his mouth quickly with his eyes wide open.

Everyone in the main lobby was staring at commotion.

Judy sighed and looked a bit ashamed of herself. "I'm sorry… I'm… I just really need to know where Nick went."

Clawhauser slowly leaned forward, "Sorry Jud! It's my fault… I know I should be quiet about the whole thing but it's just so adorabl-" He cut himself off with a deep breath "Anyways… Nick? He just left a minute ago. Said he had a personal emergency he needed to tend to."

Judy let out a frustrated moan before pawing her face. "Ok… Thank you Ben! Again, I'm really sorry about earlier. I promise I'll explain everything later ok?! Just… a lot is happening right now"

Ben nodded empathetically and began to speak but Judy already ran off… but not to find Nick just yet… she was sprinting toward Chief Bogo's office.

She could hear Clawhauser in the distance bidding her farewell and good luck.

* * *

Nick slowly opened the door to his apartment as he dropped his keys and sunglasses on his floor immediately upon entering. He had a drained expression, his face in a half-lidded frown.

Slowly, he walked over to the couch and threw himself onto it. He let out an exhausted sigh.

His paw reached for the remote and turned on the TV. His eyes just stared blankly at the screen.

He stripped himself down to his undershirt and boxers.

For about 15 minutes he just watched passively. Not absorbing a single word or sound the shows were making. He was again completely occupied with rampant thoughts.

 _Why am I so upset? I should be happy for her… But… She didn't even think twice about us… about me… We've been through so much. This is… Ugh._ He shut his eyes tightly as that headache returned pounding away on the inner walls of his skull.

Ultimately, he didn't know how he truly felt about the news. The most prominent emotion was definitely anger. Anger from Judy's deliberate disregard of how he felt…and angry at himself for thinking so selfishly. But he simply could not help it. He loved her so much, just imagining doing a long-distance relationship was killing him from the inside. From his experience, the chances of any relationships (let alone _theirs_ ) working out like that was scant .

His mind could not help but loop back to Judy being ok with all this. She of all mammals should know better by now.

 _How could she even… consider that? What if the next metropolis over is even more dangerous? What if she gets captured again? Tortured? Killed?! What the fuck am I going to do then? Maybe I can just move there? I don't want to do that. I don't know anything about that place. She doesn't either! What is she thinking!_

He shook his head in frustration. That headache evolved into a borderline migraine now. He got up slowly with one paw massaging his own head and walked to his bathroom to look for painkillers.

Nick opened up the bathroom mirror and looked through the array of pill bottles lined up on the medicine cabinet within. His paw began to browse through when suddenly he heard a knock on his door.

 **Tok tok tok**

He stopped searching as he let out a tired sigh.

For about a minute, he didn't make an attempt to get the door, he simply plopped back down into the couch.

Then another set of knocks. **Tok tok tok** a muffled voice through the door could be heard "Nick?"

It was definitely Judy.

"Nick please open up. I want to talk."

He sat there half lidded just staring at the television.

"I'm not here right now. Plus, shouldn't you be at work?"

"Well shouldn't you be too?! Please Nick… let me in."

He took a deep breath and exhaled exasperatedly.

…

…

…

…

"Nick?"

"The door's not even locked, Judy."

 _Judy? Eck. When do I ever call her that?_

 _Judy? Oh crackers… he never calls me that…_

"Oh." He heard the door knob rattle as the rabbit let herself in closing the door behind her. She quietly locked the door as it shut.

Her eyes were focused on the floor. She had a guilty expression as she leaned against the door.

Nick was still on the couch staring mindlessly at the TV with a half-lidded scowl.

Neither of them spoke for a while.

…

…

…

His ears suddenly perked when he heard her slowly walking over.

She made her way around the back of the couch and stood in between him and the screen.

Nick didn't look up. He simply demanded flatly, "Get out of the way."

She didn't. Instead she grabbed the remote and shut the TV off. Now her face looked determined, but still somewhat guilty.

His face now looked angry. This was an expression Nick did not have on often. He only showed this side twice prior to today: once during the nighthowler interview when Judy discussed 'predator biology', and once when they went clubbing and some drunk hyena shoved Judy to the floor.

He stood up suddenly and towered over her. _Nevermind_ she thought to herself. She had never seen him **this** upset.

She gulped as she slowly backed up trying to escape his looming shadow.

He asked impatiently "What?" Judy winced from the volume as her ears drooped. She rubbed her paws together nervously.

Nick asked again, "What do you want?"

Her eyes looked away. "I just… I think… I think you may have misunderstood what I wa-"

Suddenly Nick couldn't contain it. He couldn't think, his rational thoughts just flew out the window.

"Misunderstood? I misunderstood something?!" Nick growled loudly as he stepped toward her menacingly. For some reason, he began baring his teeth. The boiling anger was too overwhelming.

Judy's eyes were wide open as she continued to back up before her back met the wall.

Nick advanced at her a little more before stopping. "I think I understand perfectly. Ever since the beginning. Ever since I met you. It's just been about YOU! Just Judy Hopps and her own AMAZING BIG CITY dreams. Well congratulations sister you made it already! But you just keep wanting more, don't you?"

Her eyes watered. She really wanted to finish what she had to say, so she tried opening her mouth but he quickly cut her off as he turned away from her and began to pace around the couch.

"Well that's fine! Go want more! Go get more! I just… I just don't understand why… why then did you even want to get into this relationship with me? Why did you even want me to be your partner when you're going to up and ditch me anyway? Why did you have to come into my life and just mess everything up?! I was fine, Judy!" His arms flailed around in frustration. His eyes furrowed so deep.

"So you successfully changed me, flipped my life upside down to fit yours. And NOW, you're just gonna leave?! How could you even... CONSIDER DOING THAT?!" His last few words came out in an angry shout.

Judy cowered deeper into the wall. The tears began rolling down her cheeks as each word cut her little heart. She let out a quiet gasp of pain.

She was speechless. Nick was saying such hurtful things. She simply couldn't bring herself to speak, she felt scared and horrible.

"Well?!" He gestured toward her beckoning her to say what she was going to say.

She just kept sniffling as her little paws desperately tried to wipe away her tears. He's never ever been so mad at her before, and he's never attacked her on such a personal level like this.

Nick began to get a better grasp of his turmoil. Judy had changed his life in all the best ways possible, but he just could not stand for her to leave just like that. Like he was just a simple chapter in her life or a case for her to close. His deep desire was to be more than that. He wanted to participate in every chapter of her life—forever, through both the thick and thin ones.

He scoffed at her inability to form a response. Her eyes never looked away from his except to wipe her tears.

"Remember the nighthowlers? Even when you came to apologize that time under the bridge. I know it was just for you. So you can have your stupid job back. I know it wasn't because you really cared. You just needed me, so you came and put on a little act so I would let you use me." He finished in almost a snarl.

That…

…

…

…

…

…

That broke the little rabbit's heart.

…

…

She began to sob loudly as shudders were sent shooting through her body. She covered her eyes with her paws as she ran for the door. She quickly unlocked it and sprinted out of the apartment.

He could hear her descend the steps quickly through the walls as sounds of her quick footsteps faded away.

Nick was breathing hard from the anger still stewing inside.

He sat back down on the couch and turned on the TV again.

He stared blankly for 30 minutes... then an hour...

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

A tear rolled down his cheeks. He ignored it.

…

…

…

…

…

…

And then a few more… He tried to wipe them with one paw.

…

…

…

…

He began to sob loudly as both of his paws covered his face. He just realized what he had said to her.

He just realized he pretty much ejected the one mammal that loved him from his life in the most violent and cruel way possible.

 _Oh god what have I done?_

 **Whoa ho ho ho! I know I'm kinda dating myself on this one but… this was pretty sad, I can see Judy's face all sad and teary—SHOOT ME. Anyways hope you all enjoyed it. Leave reviews babez.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Wow. The love increased tenfold. My filthy replies seems to serve as good incentive! I've sent each of you a million dollars in dreams and hopes currency. Don't spend it all on sex toys and drugs, you Malaysian oafs. Tell me if you guys enjoy your gifts! I definitely enjoy sending them via these texts.**

 **01001101 01100101:** Ikr? Almost as tense as that one time I tried to become a democratic republican in Uganda. Lot of angry tongue clicking, and AK-47, and aviator shades wearing black folks. On a serious note, why aviator shades right? You would think their poverty stricken state would render them unable to purchase food let alone aviator shades. But what do I know? I'm just a dirty backwater alligator who lives down in the boons. Anyways, you receive my special edition Darth Vader Action figure from 1986. Ironically, comes with aviator shades. Enjoy!

 **Guest:** Dunno which guest you are, but whatever the case. Don't shoot me. I might literally cry, and probably melt into a pile of excrement. :/ If you login though with a cutey-pie name, I'll definitely send you an acorn with a pink bowtie around it. Upon reception though, please return the bowtie… and the acorn… Yeah you don't get any gifts… You filthy ape. I should slap you with a piece of raw lettuce. I love you though. Kisses! And Hugs!

 **t01675299501** **:** I get it. Savage?! TEHEHE LIKE FROM THE ZOOTOPIA MOVIE AMIRIGHT? For your award winning jest and marrow tickling, I sent you a box of chocolates, the shape was forged from a mold of my own penis… so they're not very good, nor are they very big :(. And again… if you receive a box that says 'For: Senor Hernando' please kindly return the package to me and no cops pl0x. XOXOXO.

 **SirDaniSkywatcher304** : Don't cry, my feeble little pineapple looking-ass friend. To cover the psychological damages that I am clearly responsible for inducing, I sent you a brand new set of Lincoln Logs. This set was post-civil war so it takes a lot longer to build, seeing as you have to build it entirely on your own without helpful darker hands. *scoffs* What has happened to America…

 **K enough spoiling you guys. Back to the show.**

* * *

The next week had been… _painful to say the least._

Nick and Judy were finally back on patrol today.

Neither of them spoke very much to each other. Usually Nick would initiate with a snarky comment which would beckon a banter volley… but… now no matter what Nick tried… Judy mostly responded with unenthusiastic monosyllabic answers.

"Oh."

"Cool."

"Mm."

"Ah."

"Yes."

"No."

The worst part was… her tone was serious and her expression deadpan. This was clearly not an act. Nick knew when the bunny was acting, not because he's a pro at detecting lies per se, moreso Judy was just awful at pretending. The only time she could get away with an act is if she could hide her own face. But she hasn't been hiding at all. This was the real deal.

In addition, Judy actually spent a few nights the past week at her own place instead of Nick's. They also haven't kissed, hugged, cuddled, held paws, or anything for that matter since that unpleasant night. It was like working and living with a total stranger. It felt as though they didn't just break up, but were also no longer friends. _Did we even break up? … I don't even know._

But he wasn't about to ask her that… he didn't really want to know the answer… not now anyway.

…

…

They pulled up to a red light. Nick was quietly snacking on a blueberry muffin. He tried offering some to her earlier but she dismissed him with a single head shake, not even making a sound nor giving eye contact.

 _I just gotta apologize, this is not unrepairable. It was my fault, I let my emotions get the best of me… and I said stupid shit that I didn't mean. So I just gotta fox up and say I'm sorry._

He reevaluated his feelings again, but did he **really** not mean them? Or were they actually truths, buried deep down in his steel vault of feelings, accidently surfacing due to emotion overload?

 _But she deserves to become the best mammal she could be. She worked hard to get to where she is… who am I to guilt trip her and hold her back from moving forward in her own career?_

Nick sighed and stared out the window again as the light turned green. The car rolled on.

He began to think about the nasty things he said to her especially the statement he made about her using him to reclaim her lost job during the nighthowler incident.

 _Come to think of it… How_ _ **did**_ _she lose her job in the first place? She never actually told me… not even under the bridge…_

He shook his head not really wanting to dwell on this again before he gets another headache.

It was already hard to confront her before, but **apologizing** for something as serious as this was seemingly impossible.

It wasn't that he had too much pride, he just… he didn't even know where to begin nor was he sure she even wanted to ever listen to him again.

He let out a quiet sigh as he carefully peered over at the rabbit driving. Her face was idle and her eyes just focused on the road.

Typically, she would catch him looking and at least exchange friendly glimpses, but… she didn't. It was as if Nick no longer existed to her.

This thought really bore deep into his heart. An unfamiliar ache resonated in his chest. Like a hole was forming this whole past week… like he was dead to her.

The only sound that could be heard was the low humming of the vehicle's engine.

…

…

…

…

Nick had to break this torturous silence.

…

…

"Hey… Uh… You wanna stop somewhere to get dinner? I'm getting kinda hungry." He chuckled awkwardly as his eyes quickly looked up anticipating her answer.

"Uh. Yeah sure, I'll just drop you off wherever you want and you can pick up the food." She replied plainly.

"Yeah. Ok… that sounds… good." Nick lightly scratched his cheek. "Uhhh… Do you think we have time to sit down and eat inside?" he followed up.

Her eyes peered over to the dashboard's clock before she answered, "Yeah, I suppose so." Her tone was still rather cold and uninviting.

Nick cleared his throat before he chuckled again. "Great." His usual wise-crack ways were not working today. For some reason, he just could not formulate a single joke nor a mood-lightening remark at all. He started to feel a little upset that a dumb bunny like her could affect him and his wits so easily, and she wasn't even trying! Or so it seemed…

He thought deeply for a while searching for something funny to say, but kept drawing blanks. After a few minutes, he conceded to his fox block and simply continued to stare out the window blankly with his half-lidded gaze.

 _This sucks._

* * *

As the waitress arrived to their table and placed their food down, Nick picked up his fork and knife before looking up to Judy noticing she did not have a plate in front of her.

"They're really taking their time with yours, huh?" he inquired genuinely.

Judy's eyes were staring blankly at the table. "I didn't order anything."

He raised one eyebrow. "Come on Carrots, I know for a fact you haven't eaten all day."

She gave zero response to his observation as if he didn't even speak.

"Just get something before you faint ok?" he gave her a weak smirk before turning his attention to his food.

She didn't even notice his smirk because she never looked up once. "No I'm not hungry. Don't worry."

Her tone was killing him. It's like one day they were inseparable and completed one another, and the next… just… she's gone. Like everything they shared had simply… left the building—dissolved into nothingness.

Nick gulped sheepishly as he slowly and awkwardly started to eat.

…

…

…

Suddenly, he pawed the table resolutely.

"Alright Hopps, I'm not gonna sit here and let you starve yourself." He raised his paw to signal for the waitress.

"Hi! You folks need something?" the deer waitress walked by with a smile.

"Hi yes, I was just going to order a Carrot muffin real quick for my cute companion here." Nick mischievously looked over a Judy who was still just staring at the table.

Nick hoped his usage of the 'c' word would warrant some type of response from Judy—he just wanted some response from her, even if it would be an angry one but… beggars can't be choosers at this point.

However, she remained silent. Her freakin' nose didn't even twitch. _And it always twitches!_ I know, Nick! Her face held a stone cold expression. Nick sighed and confirmed the order with the waitress.

"Alright, coming right up!" the deer quickly maneuvered to the kitchen.

Nick's eyes were fixated on Judy as he watched her face closely—perhaps a slight twitch somewhere on her face would give him even the slightest clue what she's thinking.

 _What the hell am I doing? I'm just talk to her. This is the millionth time already and you STILL don't have the balls to talk to her! And you claim you know and love her, you dumbass._

He rubbed his forehead vigorously he continued to mentally castigate himself, he could not understand why divulging his feelings and thoughts was just so difficult.

For a moment, Nick contemplated calling up Finnick to have him threaten him with a baseball bat to the head until he spoke to Judy sincerely.

In the middle of his thoughts, he noticed in his peripherals the grayness than sat across from him began to leave.

He looked up to see Judy hop off her seat as she began walking toward the door.

"Carrots? Where ya going?"

"Back to the car." She didn't even turn around, she simply kept walking.

"But… I ordered you food?"

She ignored him as she pushed the diner door open and made her way to the parking lot.

Nick let out a loud exasperated sigh. _Ok…_ _I can do this. Just talk and apologize. Easy._

When the muffin finally came, he quickly paid the bill and darted out the diner to meet Judy in the car.

* * *

As he settled in the passenger seat, he placed the bag with the muffin down in the cupholder between their seats. "Whoo. That took a lot longer than anticipated, you'd think they were still growing the damn carrots." He forced out a chuckle again only to be reminded by Judy's silence that his jocose attempts were futile.

Nick looked away for a moment. Then he put on his seatbelt.

"Well… our shift's almost done. Ya wanna go home after this?"

"Yeah."

"Great! Wanna watch a movie or somethi-"

"I'm going back to **my** home though."

Nick stopped. That ache in his heart returned again. He looked up to her with almost pleading eyes.

"But… Whiskers… My home is your home too." His voice was low and almost shaky.

Finally, he saw something he hadn't seen all week. For just a brief moment, a twinge of sadness could be seen on Judy's face when she lowered her eyes slightly before she looked back up returning to her deadpan expression.

"I just have something I need to do." Her face gave away this lie though, Nick could see right through it.

"…Well… could I help you with it maybe?" he pried.

"No." she replied.

"Why not?" he tried the 'annoying fox' tactic.

"Because."

"Because why?" He leaned toward her again hoping to get some sort of emotional response.

Finally, Judy turned to Nick with a deadpan/irritated look.

Her stare was fierce and frankly quite frightening. Nick felt himself cower back toward the door of the vehicle from the weight of her gaze.

"Because I don't want you to." She spoke adamantly, but not upset or mad.

"Carrots…" He spoke in a soft and now pleading voice as he leaned toward her.

She looked away out her window. They were still parked in the stall; Judy hadn't even started the car.

"Hey. Come on… look at me." He slid his paw onto hers, but was surprised to see she retracted it quickly as if he were covered in rabbit repellant.

All these small verbal and physical denials took a toll on his confidence. He could literally feel small slashes made across his heart each time she gave him the cold shoulder.

It was as if she was slowly and subtly hurting him back just as he had hurt her. He didn't exactly take her for the vindictive type.

He let out another defeated sigh as he averted his gaze not looking to push her anymore.

…

…

…

Judy looked up at the dashboard clock. Their patrol shift was almost over. With that, she turned the key in the ignition and revved up the engines.

"We're almost done for tonight. Let's head back to the precinct." Judy pulled the car out of the diner driveway.

Nick frowned as his gaze fell to the floor of the car. "Alright."

* * *

By the time Bogo had released them, it was already late at night. Since they became mates, she usually rode with Nick back to his place. But tonight…

…

Nick and Judy pushed the ZPD front door open as they exited the building. An enthusiastic and yellow spotted mass could be seen behind them bidding them a loud farewell.

Judy stopped to smile and wave back, and Nick turned and gave the cheetah a cool-guy nod before casually taking their leave.

Nick started walking out to the left toward the parking lot, but remembered Judy wasn't coming with him today. He quickly turned around to see she had already walked a considerable distance away from him out the right of the front door.

He jogged after her and as he finally approached her, "Hey Carrots."

Judy stopped, but did not turn around.

"You need a lift?" He gestured toward the parking lot. "Who knows when the bus is coming at this hour. And walking would be a little dangerou-"

"I think I can handle myself." She responded flatly as she resumed walking.

Nick's eyes widened from the rejection, he scurried after her this time standing in front of her to block her.

She didn't say a thing as she simply tried to walk around him. Nick seemed to side step quickly to block her at every turn.

Judy tried really hard to remain unfazed by his persisting act of annoyance.

The road and skies were pitch black as bunny and fox played an intense game of block-and-sidestep under the dim yellow streetlights.

Passing late night mammals stared at them as if they were performing some sort of a circus act.

Finally, after a couple dozen attempts, Judy finally comes to a total stop and looks up at him with a furious gaze.

"Get out of my way, Wilde."

 _Wilde? Cheese, she must be pissed…_

"Carrots, I really just want to talk…"

She did not speak, she simply continued to stare at him angrily. Her foot began to thump.

 _Ok… that's… at least she's responding._

"Ok… Uhm… Can we just talk about what happened last week?" he coyly asked.

Her brows furrowed as she tried to push him aside. Nick held his ground and lightly pushed her back. Judy's eyes widened as Nick gave her that light shove.

Ok… That was a mistake, Nick.

 _Yeah._ _ **Now**_ _she's pissed._

…

…

Suddenly Judy sprang up in the air with a quick hop and smashed both her feet on his head before dismounting past him and began to casually walk off.

The feet-to-head strike left Nick on the floor and seeing stars. She packed quite a punch—well… kick—well… stomp?

…

…

…

He shook his head to recover from the blow as he quickly (and dizzily) followed her as tightly as he could.

At first he didn't know what to do as he contemplated just leaving her alone… but suddenly, a strange idea clicked.

He quickly ran after her. With his ears flattened and his eyes trained on her like he's pursuing a perp.

Judy turned her head and noticed Nick sprinting at her. Something instinctual kicked in, and she found her feet began sprinting on its own. _What the heck's going on?_ She felt flustered suddenly.

Her heart started to race uncontrollably, and do did Nick's.

…

The chase was on. Both of them felt a rush that was simply unexplainable.

It was as if this little game was something their ancestors used to do frequently.

Nick felt a primal surge of excitement course through his veins.

Judy felt like very alive, but she also felt a strange sense of misplaced fear.

They chased each other up and down numerous blocks ducking and weaving through parks and alleyways alike. Occasionally scaring a homeless mammal half to death.

Judy's springy movements helped her avoid obstacles and mammals while Nick's slick low-profile top speed allowed him to keep up and weave right past any barriers.

Oddly enough, neither of them really felt fatigued even after running this long. This game seemed like a life-death situation where losing is not an option.

Judy took a quick glance back as she leapt on top of another car to see that Nick was still keeping up.

She was kind of impressed. Normally, he's so lazy, slow, and dumb! But right now… as he chased her on his fours, he looked so determined, so ferocious, so… wild(e).

Nick didn't let her moment of admiration go unpunished as he lunged toward her.

Judy quickly snapped out of it as she slipped to the left making Nick just miss her by a hair.

…

 _Heh. Too slow._ She thought as she gave him a smug smirk, but before she could hop away.

 **Tktktktktk~**

Her ears sprung up at the sound as she noticed her wrist had been bound by… Nick's handcuffs.

She scowled.

Nick laid on the floor panting as he victoriously presented his left wrist with the other half of the metal binding. He chuckled in almost disbelief that he had caught the legendary grey blur.

"It's…" he huffed some more. "It's called a hustle, sweetheart." Nick gave her his signature smirk. Only this time he didn't look nearly as cool and collected, the physical fatigue was hitting him hard. He was still panting heavily; Nick never ran so much in his whole life not even when they had to flee from a savage Mr. Manches.

Judy on the other paw was only breathing quicker, but not nearly at the level of Nick's laborious pants.

Nick slowly laid himself down on the sidewalk to rest and catch his breath.

Judy just glared at him, mentally cursing at herself for falling for such a cheap trick. In the wild, she would've smoked him for sure. _Stupid fox and his handcuffs._

"Alright, fluff… now that… now that I've… hold on gimme a sec." he held out a finger at her as he continued to catch his breath.

After a minute, he finally recollected himself. Judy remained unamused with her arms crossed.

"Alright… So now that I've caught you. You gotta let me talk and explain myself."

She stared at him reluctantly with furrowed brows but was impressed enough by his determination to relent a bit, "Fine. Talk."

"Ok but not here. Lemme take you to your apartment first, since that's where you need to be."

Judy didn't protest as she gestured him to lead the way. Nick smiled. _Finally getting through to her again!_ His heart was partying and popping champagne bottles, but unfortunately his mind was preparing for the most intense battle of its life.

…

…

…

As they got in Nick's car, Nick began adjusting the mirror and started the engine.

Suddenly, Judy spoke.

"Actually, let's go to your place instead."

Nick turned quickly to look at her with wide eyes.

She did not return the look, but simply stared out the windows.

"You sure, Car- I mean… no yeah. That's fine." He quickly tried to shut himself up before she changed her mind, but his curiosity was killing him.

…

…

…

"Sorry, could I just ask why the sudden change in… "

"My neighbors." She replied succinctly and plainly.

"Ahh…" now it made sense to him as he pulled out of the ZPD parking lot. Judy's neighbors would make this imminent conversation even more awkward and difficult than it already was going to be. Plus, both Judy and Nick knew, Judy would not hear the end of this for the next month and a half from them through the paper thin walls.

"Well back home it its then!" he proclaimed happily—his signature smirk finally returned. He looked over at her with a small grin, but noticed she wasn't even looking at him. His grin quickly faded as he cleared his throat.

 _This ordeal is far from over…_ Indeed it is, Nick.

With his foot on the gas, Nick knew this was going to be the longest car ride of his life.

 **OH BOY. How will Nick resolve this sour potato he finds himself in? Will I ever provide a decent bold-text A/N's? Find out next time, on the next episode of dragon bawl Gee!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry for the delay guys. I wish I wasn't a failure and dead on the inside. This is a rather short chapter, but hopefully u guys enjoy the pain, you masochistic little turds.**

 **WhiteeFoxclaw1990:** I'm glad you are liking it so far! So… are you like… just the fox's claw? Or… half of the fox? Regardless, I've sent your very own fur dye! Feel free to dye your white fur a huge variety of colors like red! Or green! Or- Oh that's all… This box was already open when I bought it.

 **Syhsnakey:** Glad you're still with me here! Sorry about the delay, didn't have enough drug money to finance my writing but now that the payment's come thru everything is howdy doody again! Please accept this gingerly wrapped case of cat vertebrae and sludge I found behind my house!

 **01001101 01100101** : If you explode. Then I'm sorry. Be sure to log in to your nearest comp to read the next chapter in your afterlife tho! I'll be sure to send you fox and rabbit plushes to you as well! (I'll just be killing foxes and rabbits and carving your name on them with my rusty knife, I really don't know what the postal service is like up there… or down there… or in the middle?)

* * *

 **Zzzzzk-**

She felt the metal binding loosen from her wrist. Her left paw reached out to rub her liberated right wrist.

He unlocked his own as well. The handcuffs fell to the floor letting out a few metallic clacks.

 **Chk-click**

She heard him lock his apartment door.

Without even saying or doing anything, Judy walked into his room and dove face-first into his bed. It had been a long day for her... for **them**.

Nick smirked as he slowly took off his shoes and placed his keys down on the table.

She continued to lay there with her head now buried into a pillow still not saying a word.

He walked to the kitchen and poured a tall glass of water before following his rabbit to his room.

Nick set the glass down on the nightstand before he took a seat at the foot of the bed.

For a while, he just sat there staring at the wall while Judy laid there sprawled on the bed.

Finally, he let out a tired sigh as he slowly laid back with his two paws behind his head. The bunny and fox now laid parallel to each other with Judy's face still buried in the pillow.

From the corner of his eyes, he could see her shift her body to look away from him toward the edge of the bed.

Nick simply stared at the ceiling.

…

…

…

The streets of Zootopia was surprisingly quiet tonight, it's almost as if fate had perfectly set up the conditions to this daunting and impending conversation.

Nick turned his head slowly to look at Judy lying on her side. He could see her sides expanding and falling with each slow breath she took. Her ears were draped on the bed behind her.

He still couldn't help but smile when he saw her, no matter how much she hated his guts right now. He loved her. And he wanted nothing more than to fix this predicament.

"So listen…" Nick began.

Judy acted as if she didn't hear him, she remained silent and motionless.

Nick let out a defeated sigh "I'm sorry… Judy. I really really am." He continued, "And… I shouldn't have said those things… and I didn't mean any of it."

She shifted her body a little as she let out a very quiet sniffle. Nick wasn't sure if she was emotionally afflicted or just clearing her nose.

"And I know you're really excited to be detective and I am too… it's just…" He let out an exasperated sigh.

"It's just… I dunno, Carrots…" He scooted closer to her on the bed. Her back was still facing him.

"I guess I was just really scared of losing you again. And you just finished recovering, we just became mates, Zootopia still needs us, and… ya know…" His eyes were wandering everywhere as he tried to convey his thoughts.

"I just thought it wasn't the best time for you to just… leave." His eyes averted toward the ceiling again.

…

…

"Even now… I honestly still don't think it's a good time for you to leave, Carrots. There's just… There's so much going on here and-" He sighed again as he slowly turned to face her again.

She let out another sniffle, this time much more audible and apparent that it was accompanied by some tears.

…

…

"…that being said… I understand this decision is a big step in your career and I am crazy proud of you… So… No matter what happens whiskers… I will support you 100% of the way. No matter what. And… I'm really sorry for what happened… I wasn't thinking straight." He let out a sheepish chuckle while scratching the back of his head. "I just… I didn't want you to leave me… That's the short of it… and I'm sorry I'm so selfish. I don-I mean…" He let out yet another drawn out sigh.

"I really am a dumb fox I guess…"

…

…

"Nick…" she spoke softly.

His ears perked up as his gaze narrowed at the back of her head.

"Yeah?" he spoke in almost a gasp.

"Do…" she sniffled. "Do you know how I lost my job that time… during that whole nighthowlers mess?"

Nick's eyes widened a bit. He bit his lip and thought about it for a while, he actually didn't know the real reason.

"I thought… I don't know. I just assumed you had some conflict with the force and they fired you or someth- you never told me-"

"You never asked." She quickly but quietly interrupted.

…

Nick wasn't sure what to say as he laid there still staring at the back of her head.

Suddenly Judy spoke up again, "I lost my job… because I had quit the force, Nick."

Nick's ears flattened. _What?_ He was thoroughly confused. Why would she quit right when she made the career changing bust? She became the shining symbol of the ZPD.

"Wh-…Why?" he asked befuddled.

Judy slowly shifted on the bed and turned around to face him. The fur around her cheeks were clearly stained with her tears, her eyes were a little red as well.

Nick gulped as he began to feel uneasy from how bad he seemed to have hurt her.

Her eyes met with his.

"I quit because…" tears began rolling down again as her voice broke a little. "I hated myself for what I did… and the suffering I caused to all the predators in Zootopia during that time… but… eventually I got over that… I knew being sad wouldn't change a thing… But I thought maybe staying out of the way would be better for everyone… At that point, I wasn't making the world a better place. I was making it worse somehow…"

Her tone was sad as she recollected the bitter beginning of her career. She scoffed at herself "…a better place…" She shook her head at her early naivety. "But then… When I met you… that's when I realized... I could do it... but I couldn't do it alone…" she lifted her head slightly to look him in the eyes.

Nick's eyes were locked onto hers. His brows were furrowed in anticipation and empathy.

She paused. Nick was just staring at her with completely undivided attention.

She sniffled. "What I couldn't get over was…" she gasped as a sob began to set in. "Was… when you left me…" her sobs intensified as she remembered that feeling under the bridge. The tears just fell out of her eyes staining not only her fur but Nick's bed.

"I thought… I-I… I didn't even know you, Nick. But… I just thought we… I just thought we connected in such a way… that I don't think I've ever felt before. We saved and changed each other's lives and… And when you left, I felt like something inside of me died a little."

Tears were now streaming down Nick's own cheeks. His heart boiling over with remorse and a stinging sensation.

"…So I left… I left thinking… Thinking Zootopia was better off without me. Thinking you'd be better off without me…" her sobs began to slow down but the tears didn't stop, her body trembled lightly from the melancholy.

Nick felt his heart cave in as it slowly slid into his stomach. And to think he said all those things to her. Nick averted his eyes toward the pillow he laid on.

…

…

"Judy…"

She was still shuddering a little from the sobbing.

He reached one paw out and gently placed it on her cheek to rub it in an attempt to comfort her. He felt her breathing calm.

He tried to apologize, "I'm sorry… I didn't kno-"

"When you said those things to me Nick… A week ago…"

He felt his heart cave in deeper.

"That hurt me in ways…" she pursed her lips as she fought the impending sob. "That hurt me in ways I couldn't even imagine... I'm sorry…" She rubbed her eyes in frustration. "You're right, I'm so dang emotional…"

Nick chuckled quietly as he tried to help her wipe a few tears.

She wiped her eyes desperately, it didn't seem to help. Old tears instantly replaced by new ones. "I didn't come back for my job, Nick. I came back cuz I knew I messed up bad. And cuz… if you hated me, I wouldn't know what to do with myself…"

Nick couldn't even look at her anymore. He felt the gut wrenching shame just churning his insides.

…

…

A minute passed before Judy looked Nick dead in his eyes again. The piercing amethyst glow from her gaze made him freeze. He was beginning to feel cold sweat. A combination of guilt, shame, and sadness swelled in his heart and mind.

"I didn't take the promotion, Nick."

His eyes widened even more.

…

It took a while for him to comprehend what she had just said.

"Wh- But… Carrots…" he stuttered.

"That's the part you didn't lemme finish before you started yelling at me… Bogo said I could defer it to the next cycle… which is about a 1 year or two depending on the ZPD's needs." Judy spoke a little more calmly at this point.

"Jud… I… I don't want to hold you bac-"

"You're not. I don't feel ready to move to a whole new metropolis for half a year yet either. I feel there's a heck of a lot more things I need to learn about Zootopia first… I mean I just got here ya know? Let alone becoming a detective at some totally unknown city!" she rationalized for him before giving him a small warm smile. "I know we should try everything… but… in time."

Nick's tears began to flow freely. "I… You're an amazing officer and I just think you should aspire toward more if given the oppurtu-"

"Nick." Her two little paws extended toward his face as she cupped his cheeks. She slowly pulled his snout in to plant a firm but gentle kiss on his lips.

Slowly, she pulled back. "You're really **really** important to me. And like I said under the bridge… I can't do this without you." She smiled at him once more.

Nick tried to smirk back with his trademark look. Of course his coolness at this point was lackluster at best due to the red eyes and tears, but he still managed to pull it off.

"I don't know what to say Jud..." He rubbed his face. His eyes averted to the pillow again.

...

...

Slowly, he knew what he wanted to say; what was clear as day to him. He looked up at her once more.

"I love you, Judy. I'm sorry for… for everything." He spoke in a shaky tone.

She sighed as she scooted closer to him.

"I love you too, you dumb fox… I forgive you." Nick let out a sob as he grit his teeth, the pain and relief set in simulatenously. All the tension and pressure in his chest loosened, finally this long week of misery was over.

With that, they locked in a tight embrace. She felt the storm pouring out of Nick's body as she held him tightly. For once, she was the relatively calm one.

Although total complacency may not be something Judy's willing to settle for, she learned that life sometimes requires just a little compromise and in time... things will work itself out.

 _In time._ She smiled as she buried her head into his chest.

 _In time._ He rested his cheek on top of her head.

 **Ka-Pow. Hope y'all had fun with this one. I love you. XOXOXO. Not sure when or if more is coming, I think it might be time to hang up the keyboard for a while until new ideas spring into the ol' noggin'. Anyways! Hope all your dreams and aspirations come true!**


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